E was only awake TWICE after we went to bed last night, and both times she nursed then S soothed her back to sleep in her bed after only a few minutes! She slept from 10:30-1:15ish, 1:30ish-4:45, and 4:45-6:30ish. For those of you keeping score, that is two three-hour stretches... which may sound horrific to a normal person, but compared to how E has been sleeping, is amazing. Hooray!
As for naps yesterday, she pretty much split the difference. Her first nap, I put her down and she got quiet after only four minutes of fussing. She never went to sleep, but she stayed in her bed and quietly rested for over an hour. YAY for soothing herself and resting quietly without screaming through "nap" time!
Then, she turned around and fought her second nap with everything she had. 60 solid minutes of screaming/crying/fussing. Total nap FAIL.
Bedtime started out strong, but then crashed and burned. Since she had skipped her second nap of the day, E was beyond ready for bed by 6:00 p.m. We put her down and she fussed and whined (but not screaming and tantrum-ing!) on and off for about 45 minutes. She got more upset around 7:00 p.m., so we checked her diaper to be sure she didn't pull one of her patented I-don't-want-to-go-to-sleep-poops, then laid her back down and soothed her for a few minutes. Asleep at 7:14 p.m. Success! Then she woke up around 8:00 p.m. and would. not. go. back. to. sleep. although she was so, so exhausted. S and I took turns soothing her every 30 minutes or so while she fussed and cried for two and a half hours. At 10:30 p.m., I noticed she had been quiet for several minutes and went back to check on her. This is what I found.
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| Just pretend this baby is blonde and in a Pack-N-Play, not on a shelf. |
Sleeping standing up, with her head on the rail of the Pack-N-Play. For the second night in a row. I gently laid her down and she (mercifully) stayed asleep.
I don't know why, but in that moment of seeing her like that, I felt so incredibly sad and guilty. I'm sure I was just projecting my own emotions on the situation, but I teared up when I saw her standing there sleeping and could only think of how she must have been standing back in that room, literally for hours, waiting for her Mama and Dada who never came. It was heartbreaking. I'm going to cry again now just thinking about it!
Thankfully, I feel a little less guilty today due to her being in a great mood. I can tell she got some real rest last night for the first time in weeks. She has been happy and goofy and doesn't appear to hate me, so that makes me feel much better. :-) I am hoping tonight is even easier!
Oh Yay! So pleased you are getting somewhere!
ReplyDeleteDon't feel guilty! Remember, we are parents and they are babies. They don't know anything other than what we tell them, and sometimes they need to learn things for their own good! Sounds harsh I know, but everybody needs a good nights sleep to function properly and be happy in the day. You really are doing the right thing, and you know you are too!
xx
I can't believe she is sleeping standing up!! Hilarious. I know it feels horrible but if she ends up with a better routine after this, she'll definitely benefit in the end. Sucks while you're doing it though!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you're seeing progress! One word of caution, just make sure when your soothing her, your not helping her fall asleep. That could just make the process longer and harder on both of you. Stick with it!
ReplyDeleteGreat point, and yeah we definitely have done that a few times. Now when we "soothe" her, after the initial hug or pat for reassurance, we step back and just stay in the room with her for a few minutes. I'm sure some would still say that is a crutch, but her falling asleep "on her own" (with one of us in the room, but without our touch) is such a HUGE improvement from where we were just a few days ago, when she had to be rocked/nursed/snuggled to sleep. I'm hoping that in another day or so she won't even need us to stay in the room. I'm optimistic that will be the case, since she has shown she can (eventually) fall asleep on her own when left alone (see: sleeping while standing).
DeleteThank you so much again for all of your help in this! :-)