Sleep, please!

We made it!

When Sophia was a baby, I thought we'd been thru the worst that a baby can put you thru. She screamed for a large portion of the day and night for no apparent reason, and would not be soothed no matter what we did. We tried the swing, bouncing, rocking, Moby wrap, driving, and anything else we could think of. Relief came when she finally peaked in colicky-ness at 6 weeks and then tapered down to being a normal baby by three months. At that point she was so chill she even started sleeping completely thru the night (until her GI issues started, but that is a whole 'nother post!).

Jude is a very different baby. I am grateful that he was soothable, even if it meant wearing him in the Moby all day. But now he is almost four months, and still waking three times a night . . . tired mama, people!

Yesterday he turned 16 weeks. For those that subscribe to the methods of Dr. Weissbluth ("Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child," best sleep book EVER), that is the magic age at which you can make progress sleep-training your previously colicky child. After consulting with several other friends who are also Weissbluth "disciples," I decided to make Jude cry out his first wake-up.

I felt a little bit bad about it, mostly because I think I created that first wake-up. John and I have been sleeping on the pullout couch for the past few weeks, and that helped Jude move quickly from five or six times up a night to two. Then a week or so ago I headed up to feed Jude when I heard him wake, not realizing until halfway thru the feed that it was only 10 p.m. Whoops. Since then he has been waking between 9 - 10:30 after going to bed only a few hours before.

So last night was it. I was armed with Ben & Jerry's "Chubby Hubby," and the new Jane Eyre movie. And sure enough, at 9:15 the little guy started up. Half an hour into it I decided it was time to get ready for bed. I was very tempted to go in, but I could see "Healthy Sleep Habits" sitting on the toilet tank as I brushed my teeth, and couldn't disobey Dr. Weissbluth with the book right there.

Back down to bed. I stared at the ceiling with the lights off and prayed that he would stop crying. PLEASE.

It's torture listening to your kid scream their bloody lungs out, but you have to keep reminding yourself that it is for their own good. And just after 10 p.m., he finally settled. After a total of 50 minutes, he was quiet. We both went to sleep, and when he awoke again at 1:15, I felt better rested than I had in many nights and headed right in to him.

Jude still woke up again at 4:30, but I can handle two wake-ups a night. It was the third that tipped me over the edge, and I am hoping that a couple more nights will be all it takes to erase that one.

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Just a reminder, December 1st is right around the corner! Become a follower of my blog and I will enter you in a drawing for a jar of homemade strawberry jam. Someone will be enjoying jammed toast, muffins, and biscuits come December . . . although I will only be providing the jam, you need to do the baking!