Operation "Bloody Murder": Day One
It took Isaac 54 minutes to cry himself to sleep tonight.
Last night was the worst night yet; probably one of the worst since he came into the world. He went to sleep at 7:45pm or so and slept fitfully -- I think Dad had to do a quick soothe back to sleep at 9-something. Dad and I stayed up and watched TV until 11, because we are dumb. I went to bed then, and Isaac woke up at 11:15. I went to him as he dutifully stood there in his crib waiting for me, and he reached his sweet little arms out for me to pick him up when I came in the room. Of course I did, and nursed him back to sleep. But as soon as I tried to transfer him to the crib, AWAKE! Well, I didn't want to mess with my child and his chronic inability to fall asleep, so I took him into bed with me, as we have done almost every night for the past three weeks. He lay there, chirping, fussing, wrestling, thrashing, crawling around, or hitting me in the face or my upset stomach for two hours before I couldn't take anymore and was screaming at him and calling him a big jerk. I handed him off to Dad at 1:30 and went to sleep until I was awakened at 5:30 by the "Come Get Me" scream coming from Isaac's bed. This is all with me still trying to recover from the stomach bug of this weekend. Though Dad has this bug as well, he got all of one hour of sleep last night.
Today we were for the first time willing to face That Which We Had Agreed Should Not Come To Pass -- letting our darling lovely codependent child figure out how to fall asleep by himself. And we both were in full agreement about this one.
Did I tell you our pediatrician actually recommended at his 9-month checkup that we do this? She asked if he was sleeping through the night; I said no; and she said, and I quote, "It might be time for some 'tough love'." She recommended the procedure where we put him down in his crib, awake, after typical soothing bedtime activities. Tonight we took our evening bath and read some books, and then it was showtime. I put him in his crib (I tried to lay him down, but he was of the opinion that he should stand and scream instead), wished him goodnight, left the room, and set my timer for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes of solid screaming, I sent Dad in to NOT pick him up, but pat his sweet little sleepy tush and reassure him in a soothing voice that he needed to sleep. Then 10 minutes of solid screaming were allowed to pass, though this screaming started to get a little less energetic; repeat Dad-soothing event. Then 15 minutes of persistent moaning; repeat Dad-soothing event. Then 18 minutes (Dad jumped the gun by 2 minutes) of sporadic protest-whining, a Dad-soothing event, and blessed sleep.
To parents contemplating this maneuver: make sure your house is dirty first. Best to keep your hands scrubbing at dishes and baby-food stains on the high chair so that they are too occupied to run in his room and scoop him up and ruin the whole thing. Anyway, I'll let you know how the rest of the night goes, but so far so good. I don't know why, but I thought this would take him hours.
Last night was the worst night yet; probably one of the worst since he came into the world. He went to sleep at 7:45pm or so and slept fitfully -- I think Dad had to do a quick soothe back to sleep at 9-something. Dad and I stayed up and watched TV until 11, because we are dumb. I went to bed then, and Isaac woke up at 11:15. I went to him as he dutifully stood there in his crib waiting for me, and he reached his sweet little arms out for me to pick him up when I came in the room. Of course I did, and nursed him back to sleep. But as soon as I tried to transfer him to the crib, AWAKE! Well, I didn't want to mess with my child and his chronic inability to fall asleep, so I took him into bed with me, as we have done almost every night for the past three weeks. He lay there, chirping, fussing, wrestling, thrashing, crawling around, or hitting me in the face or my upset stomach for two hours before I couldn't take anymore and was screaming at him and calling him a big jerk. I handed him off to Dad at 1:30 and went to sleep until I was awakened at 5:30 by the "Come Get Me" scream coming from Isaac's bed. This is all with me still trying to recover from the stomach bug of this weekend. Though Dad has this bug as well, he got all of one hour of sleep last night.
Today we were for the first time willing to face That Which We Had Agreed Should Not Come To Pass -- letting our darling lovely codependent child figure out how to fall asleep by himself. And we both were in full agreement about this one.
Did I tell you our pediatrician actually recommended at his 9-month checkup that we do this? She asked if he was sleeping through the night; I said no; and she said, and I quote, "It might be time for some 'tough love'." She recommended the procedure where we put him down in his crib, awake, after typical soothing bedtime activities. Tonight we took our evening bath and read some books, and then it was showtime. I put him in his crib (I tried to lay him down, but he was of the opinion that he should stand and scream instead), wished him goodnight, left the room, and set my timer for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes of solid screaming, I sent Dad in to NOT pick him up, but pat his sweet little sleepy tush and reassure him in a soothing voice that he needed to sleep. Then 10 minutes of solid screaming were allowed to pass, though this screaming started to get a little less energetic; repeat Dad-soothing event. Then 15 minutes of persistent moaning; repeat Dad-soothing event. Then 18 minutes (Dad jumped the gun by 2 minutes) of sporadic protest-whining, a Dad-soothing event, and blessed sleep.
To parents contemplating this maneuver: make sure your house is dirty first. Best to keep your hands scrubbing at dishes and baby-food stains on the high chair so that they are too occupied to run in his room and scoop him up and ruin the whole thing. Anyway, I'll let you know how the rest of the night goes, but so far so good. I don't know why, but I thought this would take him hours.
posted by Claire at 8:08 PM
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