An Elephant on Her Back, and Other Insights on Infant Sleep

We are reaching a breaking point when it comes to Leah’s sleep. For the past 10 months and 5 days (read: her entire life), Leah has had this routine: bath, bottle, and then bed, just like the books recommend. We didn’t set out trying to follow the “rules” set out by infant gurus; this was just what developed and worked for us. The bath works to settle her down and sap her of any remaining energy, and the bottle tops off her tummy so she won’t wake up hungry. (This was critical in those first few weeks, as many of you understand. She would wake up hungry, of course, but at least her bedtime snack would postpone the inevitable.) This whole routine has worked famously, and we haven’t really had any problems with the whole “sleep” issue. We counted ourselves as fabulously blessed to have a baby who slept well, and moved on to other concerns (like how to make extension cords invisible to the infant eye).

Until recently.

Recently, or with the advent of teething, we have had the random phenomenon of “night waking,” with sad crying and whimpering requiring one (or both) of Leah’s sleepy parents to stagger upstairs and beg her try to get her to go back to sleep. Sometimes this works, sometimes this doesn’t. This has gotten worse since she has learned to pull herself up to standing in her crib. It’s really, really hard to get a baby to fall asleep when she won’t lay down…in case you ever wondered. We tried the “cry it out” method, and I’ve decided that Mr. Ferber is heartless. I just can’t do it. I always cave and pick her up, rocking her for up to 3 hours before she’ll finally allow her heavy, red eyelids to close. (Yes. Up to 3 hours. My butt cramps, my feet freeze, my neck gets a horrible crick, and usually I require a snack of some sort before going back to bed. That is, if it isn’t ridiculously close to time to get up…in which case I just stay up and try not to think about what time I got up that morning.)

The rocking usually works, but sometimes not. Sometimes I have to get a bottle. Sometimes she falls asleep, I wait a few minutes to make sure she’s *really* asleep, and then take her to her crib. Sometimes she stays asleep once I lay her down, and sometimes her baby-psychic abilities somehow sense that I want to lay her down and her eyes pop open just as I think it’s safe to get up, and she cries and panics and begins the whole cycle again.

Fun times.

Last night, at about 2 am, I remembered something my sister-in-law told me when Leah was first born. She had tricked her own babies into believing that she was still standing crib-side with her hand on their backs while they slept. How? She put a stuffed animal on their backs and went back to bed. Sounds funny…but guess what? It works. Leah spent most of the night last night with a blue beany elephant on her back. (Don’t worry. He’s small.) She was none the wiser. (Don’t you dare tell her.)

Despite this new insight, I think it’s time to consult the Sleep Lady. It’s time. I’ve ordered her book off eBay , and once it comes, we’re going to commence with the “up to three week training period” to teach our daughter how to fall asleep on her own. This is going to require un-teaching some things she is very accustomed to and very comfortable with…but it is very necessary.

I’ll let you know how it goes, and feel free to join me on this mission! I'd love to be in this with some other moms who have reached this point! The Sleep Lady's book is entitled Good Night, Sleep Tight, and is pretty easy to find. You have some time to get it if you want to join me. Once my book comes in (probably next week), I'm getting started! Let me know if you're going to give it a shot, too. I'd love to know I'm not alone as I stand with numb arms and frozen toes beside Leah's crib in the wee hours of the morning.