After venting yesterday to pretty much everyone about my mother - I am working on coming up with a plan to talk to her. Not sure what I'm going to say, but as Aaron noted, she pretty much leaves our house after every visit upset, and then acts as if nothing happened. Case in point, she called Monday night all excited about our visit to the cabin this weekend. I'm certainly going to talk about the dog issues, and also that if she is bothered by something, she either needs to let it go - or say something. No more bringing shit up 2 months later and holding grudges.
I just don't have the energy to deal with that crap anymore.
Speaking of not having the energy.... I've alluded a few times to Hulk's sleeping issues. I don't think that they are really that bad, in all honestly. I have friends with horror stories of sleep issues - so I count myself lucky. A standard night will consist of him going to bed pretty well at 7 PM, and sleeping soundly until 2 or 3 - when he'll cry a little and I'll get up (might as well, since I need to pee anyway) and give him his binkie or blanket or whatever and he falls asleep. That'll happen maybe 2 or 3 times a night - but it isn't like he wakes all of the way up, since I would get in there pretty quickly. Then, he'll get up again between 4 - 5 and this time the crying is much more intense. But it's also the time that Aaron gets up to go to work. So what we had been doing, was Aaron would go in, change him, fed him, and then bring him into bed with me - where he would sleep for another 2 hours (usually).
Now that he is crawling and sitting up? Not so 'easy'. For a few nights, I could barely get him to fall asleep - like Sunday night he fussed from 7:30 - 9. He would get close to dosing off, roll over, and then just start crawling! And he would then wake up, and crawl and bang his head on the side of the crib - resulting in WAILING. And I would go in and try to comfort him - to no avail. After the poopfest of a few weekends ago, I was so tired, I was just giving up at 2 or 3, and going into the guest room and sleeping with him (in bed with me? No crawling, he wouldn't even roll over. He looks at me, turns his head, and passes out). After a weekend of super crappy sleeping - I was really frustrated (along with mother frustration and general 'it's finally summer and I'm fucking hot and pregnant' frustration). All my buddies with kids said - time to just let him cry.
So that is what we started last night. He woke up at 3. LOUD CRYING. But - if you give him about 10 minutes, it goes from LOUD crying to more quiet little calls out - like he is saying 'guys? GUYS? I want to sleep with Mumma?! Come get me?' and eventually he'd stop for a few minutes and then start up again. By 4 AM he was asleep again, and slept until 6:30. I got up, changed him and got him ready for the day - and fed him he bottle. I then, instead of bringing him into bed for another hour of sleep with mom, went into our room and he played while I got ready for work.
Now we just have to stay tough. At least when I picked him up out of the crib this morning, I still got a big smile.
7 comments:
I've heard that it doesn't take long for them to learn to soothe themselves and I hope its true for you!
Awww you got a big smile! How sweet! I hope it goes well tonight for you and Hulk.
*HUGS*
It really does NOT take long for them to get the hang of things at all. I whole heartedly encourage you to tough it out. We gave in with Aiden and he is still in our bed - yes, I said it. Livi on the other hand really didn't have an option and had to sleep in her own bed. Any time she has sleep regressions (which definitely happened with the crawling and banging her head on the crib) I have soothed her as best as possible and put her back down. Then I would do the whole wait 5 minutes, then 10 minutes, then 15 minutes thing. Now, unless there is teething or something else going on, it's rare that I have to do much soothing at all. For the most part she goes down easily and only wakes up maybe once a night wanting to eat. It will get easier and better if you stick with it.
Okay, I'm done with the advice. Good luck!!
I really hope tonight goes better and you get some rest.
I think they all go through that stage and us, parents, have to know when enough is enough. As in when we need to just let them cry and fall asleep. You said he takes a paci, right? If so, you might want to get a clip to attach to his pjs that he can reach and put the paci back in when he wakes up. I waited way too long to get one of them.
I'm so glad you got a new twin nursery set- sounds great! I hope for lots of good sleep for you!
I'm not a fan of crying it out. I just don't think babies are programmed to sleep through the night. But you're pregnant with twins, and I know you need your sleep (I can't imagine!). So if you're going to do it, I hope it works for you.
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