Sleep

I need sleep! This is not really surprise, everyone does. But this week when I have probably had more consistent and better sleep at night, I am finding myself more tired. What's up with that?

You see, it all came to a head last weekend. For 8 months, we have been attempting the Cry It Out (COI) method to teach our daughter to sleep. Well it isn't working - at all! One night last week we listened to her cry for over two hours in the middle of the night. And we aren't just talking whimpering - this was full blown bawling. As her mother, it tore out my heart to have to listen to her but this was what we had decided to do and needed to stick to it. Needless to say, we all woke up exhausted, grumpy and less than ready to face the day. It was after this episode that we realized that COI wasn't working and we needed a new strategy.

How did this happen. Well it wasn't over night that's for sure. Unfortunately she has been sleeping horribly since about the middle of January. When the experts say that teething shouldn't/doesn't impact a little one's sleep - those experts must have children that are outside the norm. My child has always been bothered by teething pain at night. You can usually get her back to sleep but after lots of snuggling, Tylenol and/or Advil, and maybe some bottle. So since January Sophie has dealt with four molars arriving and possibly some eye teeth development, flu twice and an endless cold and runny nose that I think are finally gone (knock on wood). All of these things can impact sleep.

So I looked into a different program - A No-Cry Solution. In fact I am still reading - that is hard to do when you fall asleep every time you pick it up! Maybe I should give it to Sophie to read! LOL! In the meantime, we started to dissect what was happening with her during the night - then it came to me. I don't think my daughter has learned how to fall asleep on her own. We had gotten into the habit of rocking and feeding her into a deep slumber and as a result when she awoke at night she didn't know how to do it on her own.

I must pause - it appears someone has woken from her nap after only 25 minutes!