Considering that we were just about to embark on our trip to BC, I decided to wait on letting James "cry-it-out" until we were home. It seemed unfair to expect him to start sleeping longer hours, and then mess it all up almost immediately with a trip. I also decided to go against my rule of "no books", and ordered two. These books are totally opposite of each other. I bought Dr. Ferber's book "Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems". The one I got in the mail just before we left is called "The No Cry Sleep Solution". The basic elements of the book are:
• Uncover the stumbling blocks that prevent baby from sleeping through the night
• Determine--and work with--baby's biological sleep rhythms
• Create a customized, step-by-step plan to get baby to sleep through the night
• Use the Persistent Gentle Removal System to teach baby to fall asleep without breast-feeding, bottlefeeding, or using a pacifier
I read the book while we were away, and I liked a lot of the ideas. I decided that I would try it when we got home. James slept really well on our trip though. Maybe it was just that he was so tired each night, or maybe it was that he liked knowing we were close by, but he did really well. Amazing, considering how many places we ended up staying for the night - and each one different than before. It also amazed me that he slept so well in a totally different time zone. He basically switched over to BC time on the first night.
Well, we got home on Wednesday night, and it was a little rough for James. I didn't blame him though, his day was pretty hectic - and we got home quite late. On Thursday night I wasn't ready to start my new sleep program (too tired from the night before), and we took him to his first Bomber game. Again, a really weird day for James - and a little late again too, but because he was on BC time, he did okay. I put him down to bed at 9:15pm (which would be 7:15pm BC time). I usually give him a bottle before bed, but he didn't really seem to want it. I put it away, and he fell right to sleep. We didn't hear from him again until 5:30am!!! I was SHOCKED! This was a pretty major deal - because he hasn't slept 8 hours since... it's been a long time!!! In fact, he hasn't slept more than 5 hours for the last few months. I am a bit suspicious if he has been waking up because of teething. His bottom two teeth just popped out past his gums this week... coincidence? Anyway, Ryan gave him a bottle - he nearly finished the 6oz. - and then slept until 8:00am! Beautiful.
Anyway, I don't want to get my hopes up. I put him down again tonight at 9:00pm, and he didn't even really want his bottle - he just wanted to sleep! I'm praying that we have turned a corner, and that we may be on to some better sleep in the near future.
Update: Last night wasn't great. James was up at 11:45pm, 2:30am, and 5:30am. On the bright side, he didn't seem to need a bottle to fall asleep. He would take his soother, but also needed to be rocked. He did also sleep until 8:15am again, which is nice compared to 6:00 or 7:00. Today we have kept him up almost all morning (as the day before he napped for almost 4 hours altogther), and just put him down for his first nap at 2:30pm. I'm hoping that if he naps less he may sleep a little better. He seems to be in good spirits, so we'll see...
3 comments :
Praise God! I really really hope you are turning a corner with James' sleep!!! Yay! I will be praying for you, James and your hubby! I hope you don't have to go through with the "crying it out". That was REALLY tough for me to do with Annika, but it had to be done, and she is a beautiful sleeper (finally)! :) So happy to hear you had a wonderful time on your trip...that's so awesome! Have a good night, Heather! :)
This is the same age that Rowan finally learned how to sleep through the night. Although we had to do the crying it out method. Just wait... once he starts consistently sleeping through, you'll find it SUPER hard to get up once or twice for little reasons like a lost soother or a blanket that got stuck in the corner of the crib!
Wow - an 8 hour stretch is heavenly after you've been dealing with 3-4 hour increments for the last several months! Now that you know he can do it (and that he's not needing a bottle) maybe it will take you one step closer to your goal of NO night-wakings!! I know it felt like a great accomplishment when I could get Keziah to fall back asleep without feeding her. She was still waking a lot, but I felt like it was still progress that she wasn't taking a feed. So, it sounds like you're getting there even if you still have some bad nights in the mix (in Micah's case, I'm not sure we'll ever be entirely free of bad nights!)
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