This book was first introduced to me by my friend Larissa (thank you!) and in turn, I've discovered other friends who also read and loved this book (ahem, Jenny.) I am a true believer in what Dr. Weissbluth has to say in his book about the importance of sleep (can he make an adult version?? Please?) Without this getting too drawn out, Isaac has always been a good sleeper, until around 5 months old. You might recall me talking about this in my blog. He was beginning to be more social and would wake up 5 or 6 times a night. For real! We had gone from him sleeping through the night by the time he was two months old, to waking up 5 or 6 times a night, and we needed things to change! We had been teased with great sleep for 3 whole months! Dr. Weissbluth gives several suggestions on how to work out the kinks in sleeping. I love this about him because unlike other books I've read, this is the only one that isn't completely rigid and makes a mom feel like that although perhaps who've gone off course, there is still room to fix things and make things better. And, that you're not a bad mom:) That's important, right? So around I zoomed through this book and knew what I had to do (that worked best for us.) We needed to let him cry it out. Long story short: first night, he cried for 2-1/2 hours (my mom audibly gasped when I told her this. She likes to get babies out of cribs when she hears them make any noise.) And ironically, we happened to choose the "tornado" night, for those of you who live here and remember that night. 2nd night, around 1-1/2 hours, 3rd night 1/2 hour and by day 4 he was going down with only a few minutes of crying and sleeping completely through the night.Well, we just hit another road block, and for this reason, I took the book back off the shelf to peruse the pages in need of some helpful hints. Isaac is a great napper, but somehow our second nap is somewhat useless these days, and I know babies still need two naps at his age. So, what do I do? I lay him in his crib, and then he jumps up and down and laughs for almost an hour! Half of me is laughing with him as I try and get things done around the house, and half of me is in panic like "What is going on?" On a side note: I understand that this "napping" situation will get so much more interesting when we have a second kid (I'm not pregnant) and Sean's in Residency where he can't help me. Shouldn't moms get bonus points for having to deal with this on their own? Perhaps it could be bonus points towards a international trip of their choice??? Hee Hee. Right.
Anyway, I know what I need to do, and sometimes it takes some common sense to fix things. Sometimes I forget the common sense when I am searching for answers. His bedtime was moved up 1/2 an hour to 7:15, and I'm going to stay pretty firm about a wake up time, even though I love my 4 or 5 minutes of extra sleep;) This way, his entire day will pan out pretty much the same and he'll get back into his wonderful nap routine which he abandoned about a week ago. Sorry this might not be the most interesting post, but I felt like sharing.
8 comments:
I love it. Isn't like we're solving these cosmic questions? But this sleep thing makes such a huge difference on a mom's psyche. And I would only take an international trip if I could go with another great mom that happen to be a great friend (ahem, Jeannette). Otherwise, I'm using my points for a maid...
I'm so glad you love this book. My sister is into it too, so we talk about it all the time. Sometimes when I'm telling moms about it I think that they're under the impression that I just let Beck cry all the time. :)
It seems like there are tons of "roadblocks" in sleeping habits during the first year, don't you think? Just when you think you've got it down...
Hey... this is Josh Aston's wife, Adele... Hey.. does Fran have a blog? Well, tell her hi for me.. Its been a while- I wonder if she even remembers my sister (Michele)and I. Anyway, mine and Josh's blog is astonfam.blogspot.com
Calet will only take one nap, and lately it has been only an hour, not nearly enough! The boys room is next to hers and it wakes her up when they get too rowdy. Ugh. I think I need that book. It sounds like it really worked for you! I tried the cry it out too. It didn't work for our situation (renters directly below, boys in the next room, Brad's early days) but we put a portable heater in her room and somehow that worked. Crazy.
Sleep...Joseph has been wacky lately (since last Wednesday when Brian left for 4 days...it could be related). I had done Ferber originally which worked until Wednesday, but last night, we just let him cry. It was weird, because he never really ever cried to go to sleep, it was just the middle of the night when he would cry to go back to sleep. Anyway, we were too tired and so was he and so we let him cry. For goodness sakes he's almost 19 months. So I guess that some type of wrench is always thrown into the works with sleep. I just think it's funny because I wake up usually about 5 seconds before Joseph does because a certain little peanut decides to do cartwheels at all hours of the morning night in my belly. I've decided that I somehow need to be ok with getting less sleep...:)
That sounds like a cool book. Analysse did not sleep too well until we started closing her door at night. I do not like to have doors closed, but we tried it one night and wa-la, she slept through the night. We have not had a problem since. (Well I guess there's always the occasional bad night, but not very often)
Hey! Thanks for the comment on our blog- I would love to get in touch with Fran! I'm so excited! my email address is retarded, but stick with me here- Its probably the same one I have had since I met Fran, but I just don't want to change it now! Ok here it is: v (underscore) ballgurl (the number 4) at hotmail dot com
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