Sleep...

I'm reposting this because I had to delete it because I'm having Internet Explorer/computer/blog/some sort of technology issues and this was something my google search suggested...it didn't work.

So, we’ve had a little hiccup in our sleeping routine.  Actually, it was more like a belch.  A really long, loud belch similar to that of Will Ferrell’s character in Elf.  (“Did you hear that?”)  Let me start from the beginning.

By about two and a half months, Keller was getting up just once a night (and sometimes he would even sleep through the night).  Around three and a half months he was starting to outgrow the bassinet that he slept in, in the Pack n Play in our room.  So we decided we would move him out of it and into the regular part of the Pack n Play for a few nights so he could get adjusted to it and then we would move him into his crib.  Keller had other ideas.

Since night 1 of post-bassinet life, Keller would wake up a minimum of ten times a night.  This is not an exaggeration (believe me, I wish it were!).  The majority of these wakings would come within the first two hours of putting him down, where Dustin and I would take turns (though my turn seemed to come more often than his) going in and bouncing him after hearing him cry yet again.  Asleep in 3 minutes, awake in 10, asleep in 2 minutes, awake in 5 and on and on and on.

Fast forward a month and nothing had changed, now four and a half months old.  Still in the Pack n Play in our room (Don’t judge me – I actually just read something stating that they should really be in their parents room until 6 months to help avoid SIDS, but I digress.) and still doing this sleep, cry, bounce routine.

At this point we’d tried everything.  We tried different bed times, the noise machine, swaddling and no swaddling, eating rice cereal and solids, the vibration feature on the Pack n Play, different positions in the bed (maybe the feng shui wasn’t right when placed parallel, let’s try perpendicular).  We tried the lights on, lights off, night lights, Christmas lights and every combination therein.  It’s safe to say lighting was not the issue.  I read books and blogs and message boards and magazine articles and Googled until I could Google no more.  I even went out and bought this fancy projector that plays music and projects images on to the ceiling thinking that might “entertain” him right to sleep.

And the music – we listened to lullabies, classical music, Christmas music, my labor playlist on my iPod, music on YouTube, white noise, heartbeats, etc., etc., etc.  The one song that did (and still does) soothe him is Marry Me by Train.  This is the only slow song on my phone so I would play it when rocking him to sleep when he was younger (as if he’s sooo old now).  Apparently, it stuck with him because the song now has magical powers.  We played it when trying to get him back to sleep and would often leave it on throughout the night.  I think I’ve now heard it at least 5,000 times.  (“Forever could never be long enough for me, to feel like I’ve had long enough with you.”  The line certainly fits.)

So with just a week before his 5 month birthday, not knowing what else to do (and at the doctor’s suggestion), we opted for the Ferber method (a version of cry it out).  I originally said no way would I do that.  It’s mean, it’s cruel, it’s torture.  There’ll be crying and screaming and sadness and tears…and it will be really hard on him, too.  But there comes a point when you’re at your wits end, and I was at that point.

Night 1 – Worst. Night. Ever.  We did the check on him/soothe him after 1, 5, 10 & 15 minutes (and by we, I mean I).  Hearing him cry is one thing.  Actually going in and seeing him cry and look up at you with those sweet, sad eyes, tears rolling down his face, wondering why you won’t pick up him up (“All I want is a little bounce, Mom”) is another.  That rips your heart out.  Somewhere after the 15 minute check he gave in to sleep.  He cried for 40 minutes; I cried for an hour.  I’m sure I’m psychologically damaging him.  He’ll probably have abandonment issues when he gets older, amongst other things, but at least we’ll be sleeping (hopefully)…

Night 2 – Same exact amount of time, but I made dad do the dirty work.

Night 3 – Dad was gone so mom’s turn again.  Eek!  I went in at my scheduled time (after 5 minutes of crying) and did the soothing thing (which, by the way, does no good for either party) and re-evaluated the situation.  In my attempt to “entertain” him to sleep, or at least, make him feel comfy, I had turned his mobile on, so there were elephants dancing in circles and singing above his head, I had a night light on, I had my fancy new projector projecting animal scenes onto the ceiling and playing music and I had the giraffe noise machine on for good measure.  Holy overstimulation!  Who could sleep with all that?  So, I gave the dancing elephants the night off, stopped the animal scenes above, cut out the music and just left the giraffe’s white noise and a night light.  Magic.  Within just a few minutes he was asleep.

Since that time, it’s been 5 minutes or less every night.  Occasionally he wakes up after a little while, but goes back to sleep within 5 minutes.  And he sleeps 9-10 hours each night, which is amazing.  I can’t say that I’m a Ferber advocate, but I will say that it absolutely works and if you’ve tried everything else, it’s definitely worth a shot.  I’m a believer.