I mentioned before that we're working on sleep training with Sweet Pea. We've had some travel disruptions so it was time to get back on track. Saturday night it came to a head. It was a 2 1/2 hour scream fest of rage as she tried to "cajole" us into picking her up and we held firm in getting her to put herself to sleep.
"Held firm" as in, suffered through the screaming as I paced and Steve pretended to sleep. Oh, and I had to make a lunging grab for him at one point when his restraint broke and he made a move to pick her up and derail our efforts!
We all survived.
Barely.
And Sweet Pea even woke up with a smile. We just woke up. (And Steve made me french toast. Thoughtful, right?!)
Sunday evening was high with anxiety...would we go through the same thing again? Would we be at all functional for work the next day?
It didn't start out promising. The screams of rage sounded out as she was put down in her bed after being fed, swaddled and rocked to drowsiness.
We climbed into bed with grim determination, muscles tensed in an attempt to not move and not make a sound, hoping that the child will mercifully fall asleep. Now, we have a fan going to drown out excess noise but at that moment, the moment of paranoia where any noise brings a flinch, even the whisper of skin against sheets seems as loud as a car backfiring outside your window. That whisper IS going to sneak past the sound barrier and wake the baby that finally stopped crying.
(Of course the break in crying was actually just a pause for the face splitting yawn she couldn't hold in because she's so tired. The crying resumes as soon as she's done away with that stupid sleep signal. But still, there was the brief flicker of hope that she was going to go to sleep and leave us with ringing ears but a silent room.)
She did figure it out and after 10 minutes of crying she spent another 45 talking in offended and sulky tones before finally going to sleep...all on her own.
I'm so proud of her!
Keep up the good work you guys! It's SO hard! = } Our kids both seemed to do okay at night, but naps were always our issue. It took Josiah over a year to finally take at least an hour and a half nap! It's exhausting, to say the least... = } And the frustrating thing is that you finally think you've got it figured out and then some other problem rises to take it's place! Ugh! Kids... what a disruption to our lives! Ha! = )
ReplyDelete"Offended and sulky tones"--love it:). Awesome. Yay for kids that fall asleep on their own!
ReplyDeleteI love the "offended and sulky tones" too! And I so relate to the tenseness of laying there listening to the noise, praying it will go away and terrified it won't. We went thru it after Hunter got EACH stupid tooth. Fine to wake up when in pain but must not continue!!! Way to do the tough stuff!
ReplyDeleteYou have more fortitude than I ever did!
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