Last night we unofficially began the Sleep Lady Shuffle, which – as I mentioned in the post below – slowly teaches children to fall asleep on their own as their parents gradually move out of their rooms. I hadn’t planned on starting this soon, so we rocked Leah to sleep as we’ve been doing at bedtime. At 2:00 or so, though, Scott and I awoke to Leah s.c.r.e.a.m.i.n.g her little head off. As quickly as I could, I grabbed my glasses (because I’m blind as a bat without them) and some socks (because my poor toes can’t stand these marathon rocking sessions we’ve been doing lately) and made my way upstairs. By the time I got up there, Leah was in a total fit, reaching as far as her little arms would allow her to over the crib rails. I figured that after crying so hard, she wouldn’t want to go back to sleep for awhile; surprisingly, though, she fell asleep quickly once I picked her up and rocked her for a minute.
“Hunh,” I thought. “That almost seemed too easy….but she’s breathing deeply and is definitely asleep.” With that observation, I decided to put her back in her crib.
Psychic Baby was onto me, though. As soon as I moved toward the crib, she began wailing.
Three separate times.
At that point, I realized that she just wanted me to hold her all night…which I just wasn’t willing to do. Though she was waking up, I put her in her crib and, as the Sleep Lady suggests, moved the glider across the room and sat by her crib. She fussed. She cried. She wailed and panicked and reached for me in the most heart-wrenching way. She stomped her little pajama-clad feet and feel down. She screamed and gave me reason to believe she was dying. I knew better, though, and refused to pick her back up. (I’m getting really good at this. The other night, during one similar incident, I’m convinced she intentionally soiled – yes, soiled – her diaper in an effort to get me to take her out of her crib. Ever the savvy mom, though, I didn’t fall for it. I changed her diaper with her in the crib…in the dark…and stood my ground.)
This drama went on for 2 hours. TWO HOURS. I never picked her back up – because the Sleep Lady says not to, and I figure there’s no sense following some of her advice if not all of it – but I ssh-ed and patted her and kissed her. The closest I came to picking her up was hugging her while she stood in the crib.
It was hard. I definitely had to keep reminding myself that what we were doing would ultimately be good for her, and that things often have to get worse before they get better. She even started dozing off leaning on the crib rail, using her blanket as a pillow. Her little legs were giving out and she’d fall onto her bottom, then onto her side, and then would instantly pop back up to make sure I was still there. She fought hard, but eventually – at 4:30, after two complete rounds of her CD – she fell asleep.
Here’s the wrap-up of (unofficial) night #1:
Shuffle position: CRIBSIDE
To bed on her own: NO
Back to sleep on her own: YES
Cry-time: intermittently for 2 hours…probably a total of 45 minutes.
Rocking: NO
Bottle: NO
Music: YES
Success: YES
Tonight, we start at bedtime. Update tomorrow.
1 of your thoughts:
Oh my goodness! This has me laughing so hard! I mean, I realize that's not your intent--comedy--but your description is hilarious! I've gone through it with my siblings, but it was easy to just let them cry because my heartstrings weren't attached to them. But with Noelle, I realize that it's going to be SO DIFFICULT if she pulls what Leah's pulling now. It's going to be difficult because I almost ALWAYS let her fall asleep in my arms, and I let her take her naps wrapped up next to my heart. Today, I tried to let her take her naps outside of the Moby wrap and she just screamed and screamed and screamed until she turned purple and I finally gave in and wrapped her to my chest and she stopped instantly. ANd I have to say I LOVE that. I LOVE how she cuddles close to me and that my nearness can bring her to sleep and so I just can't bring myself to train her to take her naps on her own! How horrible is that? I am now one of those moms I looked down on before I was a mom myself. Who knew it was more difficult than babysitting??? At night, though, she sleeps pretty well and when she does wake up for a feeding, we just swaddle her and put her to bed asleep or not and she falls asleep on her own...
I guess I'm still afraid she's too young to let her cry for extended periods of time. I do a little but mostly I come running when her fussing hits a certain octave and I give her what she wants. Is that terrible of me? I mean, now that I have a child I just want to coddle her and cuddle her and let her sleep with me any time she wants (though not yet) and I know that this will make it more difficult for me in the long run but I just don't care when it comes down to it.
Mad props to you for resisting the urge to pick her up. Oh my goodness, I don't know if I'll be able to do it!
The car ride to and from CT was horrible for me for that reason because she jsut screamed and screamed in a similar fashion to Leah's night time cries (except that she couldn't move even if she weren't strapped in) and Dave and I both gave in and stopped THREE TIMES to be able to hold her in our arms. ON the ride back to PA, though, I found that if I took the headrest off my seat I could reach to stroke her cheeks, her hands, her head... and as long as my hand was there she would most likely fall back asleep. She's just so darling. So wonderful that I want to always make her crying go away. Anyway, I think this is my longest comment ever and I seriously didn't mean to turn it back to me. I meant to just comment on your darling Leah. Seriously, though, you're such a GREAT writer! I could imagine that scenario as if I were right there. I LOVE the part about her falling asleep standing up and then falling to her bum. That's so funny!
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