Sleep Training

You know what I hate about facebook?  Once I have posted a one sentence status about something, I have purged my urge to share and write and I don't feel like writing about it here.  And facebook is fleeting.  I can't look back and say, "Oh, that's how we sleep trained Peter!"  Maybe I need less facebook and more blog.  I certainly need less facebook!  Blah!

Anyway...  Some of you may have caught a post I wrote and deleted last week called "Desperate Times."  In it, I wrote a 3AM account of Peter's grueling sleep schedule and my resulting insomnia.  I deleted it the next morning because I thought, "Woah, I sound rough!  I'm probably going to freak people out!"

Peter's terrible sleep habits have been well documented here.  He is seven months old and had been waking at night at 11:30PM, 3:30AM, and 5:30AM for a while.  Bryan and I couldn't get on the same page to sleep train him and you know that when you are listening to your baby cry, you inevitably turn to your spouse and say, "Are you sure we can't go in there?"  The answer back has to be firm and resolute.

I had read "Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child" cover to cover like 5 times.  That book is very good.  I briefly turned to the Baby Whisperer, whose approach to sleep training older babies sounded crazy to me-"breaking the bond of trust"-whatever!  I knew what we had to do but just didn't have the guts to do it this time.

We took Peter to the pediatrician on Tuesday.  When we arrived the nurse greeted us and said, "Oh, Peter!  He's here for a weight check, is he sick?"  I said, "No, we're here to talk about his night waking habit."  The nurse smiled and said with a laugh, "Not sick.  Just spoiled!"  Our pediatrician was great.  I described Peter's night routine and the doctor told us to stop feeding him at night, keep him up a little later than usual on the first night to break his routine, and when he woke let him cry for 20 minutes at a time before checking on him.  He also said that he would be fine with us letting Peter cry as long as it took, but most parents didn't want to do that.  I asked, "So he doesn't need to eat at 11:30, 3:30, or 5:30?"  He said, "No."  I also had been letting Peter fall asleep while nursing in the day because I felt like that was the only way he would slow down enough to eat well, and the doctor told me I had to cut that out too.  I guess I saw that one coming!

So with much trepidation, we gave Peter a bottle and put him to bed at 8:15 on Tuesday night.  He woke and cried for 5 minutes at 10:30PM, again at 11:30PM, and then woke up at 1:30AM.  At 1:30 he cried and fussed for 25 minutes.  Bryan slept through it (I'm glad!) and I thought, "Oh my goodness, am I really not going in there?"  Luckily Peter's crying was mixed with a sort of hurt jabbering that let me know that he was soothing himself.  When he woke again it was 6:45AM and he wasn't even that hungry.  Night 1 was not bad.

Last night, we put Peter to bed at 8:00PM and he slept straight through until 5:50AM.  During the 5 minutes that he cried I paced outside his room and asked Bryan if I could go in.  Bryan said, "Nope.  He's still tired."  Peter fell asleep and stayed asleep until 6:50 when he woke up cooing and giggling!  I was giggling, too, with a mixture of madness and glee.  Night 2 was phenomenal!!  Thank you, God!!!

So I'm asking everyone to pray that Peter's progress will continue to be good.  He is about to cut two more teeth so I really pray that his pain won't disturb him at night.