Sleep was an issue from our early days with M. He woke up every 2-3 hours to eat till he was about 3 months. After that we went to waking up about 2 times each night. That lasted till after he was 6 months. Then we went to 1 wake up. That lasted till he was a year. I quit telling people pretty early on because they always looked at me like I was insane. I had a 10 month old who didn't sleep through the night??? I was I even still alive??? But it was okay for us, I'd feed him and he'd be back down and I barely woke up myself. So once he turned a year (and was in between ear infections and teething) we decided it was time to work on sleeping through the night. I was nervous. We started before a weekend anticipating a really rough transition. That first night he woke up twice. We let him cry for 10 minutes, went in and calmed him, and put him back down and he went back to sleep. That was it, that one night. It was so easy, so painless (and totally made us regret not doing it sooner).
So why is getting rid of the paci seem to be so much harder??
I was one of those annoying pregnant women who was so sure of myself and all those things I'd NEVER do as a parent. You know, like never resort to the swing to get him to sleep, wipe his nose with my bare hands, let him eat processed anything, and let my breastfed baby use a paci.
After 2 days of labor, 2 hours of pushing and a c-section my poor little guy had a pretty goofy head. I told the nurses to give him a paci to help comfort him as they watched him in the nursery overnight trying to fix his "boggy" head (oh yeah, another thing I wasn't going to do...use the nursery at the hospital). He hasn't seemed to be too much of an addict. He only used it at nap and bedtime. But we were starting to notice that he would seek it out. He'd want to keep it in longer and longer. So I decided this was the week.
Day 1
Nap: An hour late so I was carrying a sleeping baby from the car to crib. No paci, no crying. Success.
Bedtime: Complete meltdown. I had to dance and sing to calm him down enough to even rock. About 10 minutes of hard crying. Heard him up and active for about 20-30 minutes. Finally asleep, no paci
Day 2
Nap: Nap on time and very upset to have no paci. Left him with books and his blanket. He fussed for a few minutes then out.
Bedtime: Very upset for about 5 minutes. Calmed with rocking, cried for about 5-10 minutes then asleep.
Day 3
Nap: At daycare. Big Daddy was supposed to tell them to not use a paci, not sure if they complied.
Bedtime: Read Goodnight Moon 5 times. Got no snuggles. Cried for less than 5 minutes and then asleep.
After reading this I wonder why I'm so annoyed by this process. He's done pretty well and it's only been 3 days. But our bedtime routine has always been so easy. We would cuddle for several minutes, I'd get hugs. He'd go down awake and we wouldn't hear from him till morning. I don't like this stressful bedtime with an unhappy baby.
I'm sure we're almost through it. I hope we're almost through it. I miss the snuggles with M. When he's awake he never stops moving, so those moments of calm are precious to me.
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