Chaos Before Calm
We had a rough, rough night last night.
Finn's bedtime is typically not a problem. Around seven or eight he goes to bed. This is usually preceeded by a small breakdown, a swaddle, a little bounce or boob and he crashes.
Not last night.
I thought it was the normal nightly breakdown except that it took me an hour and a half of bouncing and singing to get him to sleep. Then I remembered that I'd heard him poop and he needed a new night diaper.
That was the beginning of the end.
There comes a point when whatever comforting and soothing you're doing becomes useless because you're so tired and not coping and the baby KNOWS this. Finn just wouldn't calm down for me. We bounced. We tried to nurse. We rocked. We sang. He just cried and cried, soaking his clothes with tears, little face red.
This parenting thing breaks your heart over and over and over again.
Then M. took over. Twenty minutes later, he was out. What did it? Swaddle, plus shushing, plus side lying, plus sucking, plus rocking, plus singing, plus the white noise machine.
The plus side...I mean, is there a plus side to your son screaming his heart out and you can't sooth him because you're at the end of your rope? Um, the plus side. The little dude slept and slept and slept...he'd completely worn himself out. NINE HOURS with no waking.
posted by Sacha @ 9:01 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
It's hard isn't it especially when you're tired. Just a suggestion but you could try swaddling him and then just leaving him in his crib to cry it out. I know it sounds harsh but sometimes all the bouncing, rocking is too much for them too and being left alone is what they want. If you don't like the idea of leaving him completely you could do the 2 min, then 5 mins, then 10 mins etc.. routine of just going in the room putting your hand gently on Finn and saying shush to reassure him you're stil there then just walking out. VERY hard to do but honestly it is worth it as each night they just need less and less time to settle and eventually learn to settle themselves.
There must be something in the air because our baby was up for FOUR HOURS the other night. He's almost six months old and is normally a great sleeper. Nothing we did worked. We were so desperate that after trying everything else we could possibly think of, we tried cry-it-out. We only lasted about 15 minutes doing that. We were both devastated by the end of it. It was HORRIBLE. I'll never do it again and I regret that we put him through that at all, even if it was only for 15 minutes. It may work for some babies but for us and our baby, it was awful. So I went out yesterday and got "The No-Cry Sleep Solution" by Elizabeth Pantley. I haven't read it all yet (and last night he was much better anyway) but I'm definitely going to in case we ever need some tips other than "cry it out".
Shannon - we talk about sleep all the time in our support group and the No Cry Sleep Solution seems to be the kindest sleep book out there. I've decided that I'm not reading any sleep books until Finn comes to a point where sleep training is more appropriate, and maybe not even then.
I just remind myself that this kind of chaos is what happens when babies are learning and then I think about what Finn is working on...rolling over, babbling, his thesis...all hard work. :)
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