So last night when it came to bed time for Sophia, I nursed her, rocked her until she was rubbing her eyes and seemed groggy and then gently laid her in her bassinet. I put the baby monitor on and quietly walked out of the room and closed the door. Out in the living-room I watched her on the monitor slowly getting restless and fidgety. As time went on and I did not respond, she seemed to get more upset and cry. Then her cry turned into a scream and this went on for quite some time. I so badly wanted to go in there, pick her up and nurse her back to sleep, but I knew if I did this, it would only hinder her sleep schedule that we are trying to set for her. So against my very instinct, I sat there heartbroken, letting my baby girl cry. After an excruciating 40 minutes of her crying, she finally found her fist and began sucking on it to soothe herself to sleep. Never have I been so relieved. Listening to your child cry and holding yourself back from comforting them, is probably one of the hardest things I've ever done. But I know in the long run it will be worth it for both me and her.
I want to be consistent when it comes to nap time and bed time, so this morning I did the same routine. I nursed her, rocked her and when she started to rub her eyes and her eyelids started closing I laid her in her bassinet and went in the bathroom to take a shower. Her bassinet is in our room, and the bathroom is our master bathroom, so as I took my shower I could hear her going through the same crying phases; first she played a little and then realized I wasn't coming to grab her so she started to fuss a bit. Then the fussiness turned into crying, but she never got to the screaming stage. She just continued to lightly cry and fuss a bit. Then after about fifteen minutes, I couldn't hear here anymore, so I got out of the shower and peeked my head around the door to see what she was doing. She had her little fist up to her mouth and had fallen asleep. I felt another sense of relief. I'm hoping that if we stick to this routine, her crying time before bed will get less and less until she doesn't cry at all. Man, it is hard and takes alot of determination, but if this schedule can help her to get better sleep at night and for Jeff and I as well, then we'll all better rested and have more energy for the day. So keep your fingers crossed that we're moving in the right direction :-) Time will only tell.
2 comments:
It is hard to hear your child cry, and approaching the "cry-it-out" method is tough, but in the end oh so worth it (for baby and parents/siblings). Luckily, Elle took to this method very well. I hear it doesn't go over too well with some babies. Hopefully Sophia will learn quickly. In the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Wiessbluth (best book ever), he warns parents that when your baby rubs their eyes, they are over tired and should have been in bed long before you noticed that. I had no idea this was true. Elle used to rub her eyes all the time, and I would think, ok, now she is tired. But looking back, I realized that when I put her down after noticing her rubbing her eyes, it took her ages to fall asleep, and she would fuss and fuss because she was actaully over tired. After reading that book, it has helped me (and Andrew) understand things much better, and now Elle is on an awesome schedule, is a great sleeper both with naps and bed time, and Andrew and I are getting much more rest as well! If you havn't read that book I mentioned, I would highly recommend it, it is awesome:)
Yeah, I just got that book since you said so many great things about it, but I've only had the chance to read 20 pages, due to my lack of down time. But the things I have read so far have been very helpful. Thanks so much for the advise :-)
Post a Comment