Thursday, October 4, 2007
The Gift of Sleep
So the night before last my daughter slept from 7:30 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. Words cannot describe how excited I was because in the first time in a long while I felt well rested when I woke up. However, last night my daughter went to bed at 7:50 p.m. and woke up at 3:00 a.m. screaming. I went to her room and checked on her and even changed her diaper. I gave her the pacifier and put her blanket just the way she likes it and left the room. Silence for 5 minutes had she gone to sleep? No after the five minutes I hear screaming again. I let her cry for 20 minutes and she would not let up. My husband then got up with her and stayed with her for 10 minutes before she finally got back to sleep. She then woke up at her normal 7:30 a.m. Seasoned mothers I need your advice. McKenna's pediatrician said not to feed her at night anymore and that she should be sleeping 12 hours. Should I just let her cry? What do you all think because I long for the well rested feeling I had a couple of nights ago.
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6 comments:
Stick with it. Porter did this when we moved him into his room from ours. He was just "testing" to see what we would let him get away with. They are smart little things! It made me feel terrible to hear him cry, but after a few nights he started sleeping through the nights again. But nobody knows your baby like you do. So trust your motherly instincts and you can't go wrong.
I know how you feel. One advice my ped told me was try not to change their diaper, because it wakes them up more and makes it harder for them to go back to sleep.
Ditto to what Courtney and Bridget said. She'll be fine, just keep your monitor on and listen to her. She'll be sleeping through the night within a few days. Dane and I were just talking about the diaper changing in the middle of the night last night for some reason. Unless she's pooped, don't change her! Good luck!
This is a HARD stage!! I have to say, it works if you just let her cry it out for a few days...she will stop waking in the nights. When she wakes up crying, go to her room (w/out any lights on), pat her tummy, and tell her it's ok and that you love her, and then exit the room not to return. All of our kids have slept through the night from the time that they were around 3 months old. Our Ped told us that they are ok to cry it out. We listened; it was always hard for a few days to lay there and just listen to the crying, but it stopped and so did the waking up in the night. Marc was always so sweet and would hold me while we listened to her cry. And yes, I cried, too. It broke my heart, but then it was all worth it in the end!! (I've done this three times in the past three years, so I know it works!) Good luck! :)
One more thing - sorry! Every child is different in dealing with this - one of ours was a little more difficult to wean the waking up thing. With her, we would let her cry for 25 min. intervals, and if she hadn't stopped, then we would go in (same thing - no lights) and simply rub her tummy and quietly tell her it's bed time, love her, you know... And then she would usually calm down and then go to sleep within the next 10 - 15 minutes. Good luck! I love the What To Expect books - the First Years is great if you haven't read it yet - such great advice for all stages! :)
Hey Melissa it's me Kayla (Hansen)! I found you through Jenni's blog page. Anyways, congrats on being a mom! Isn't it awesome! I have to agree with what court said and Natalie but with my first I had tried that and after a month of patting and consoling, it didn't work for him so I finally invested in ear plugs. He was 7 months at the time and still waking at least 2 times a night to nurse, he was a total butterball so he was getting plenty to eat. After two nights of me wearing ear plugs, he slept through the night and has ever since. Seriously, I can count on two fingers how many times I have been up with him since then and one time was because he had broken his arm and we didn't know it. Ahhhhhh the joys of parenthood.
Like I said this was two fold advice, since my first I found something called an amby baby hammock. My other two have slept through the night since they have been home from the hospital. Not kidding. And transitioning Kaden to the crib at 9 months old was no problem. He had already learned about good sleep habits and does wonderfully even when he teethed he never woke up and still doesn't. My life is grand!
Come visit my blog at http://tklucasfamily.blogspot.com/
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