Please pray for mommy fortitude tonight. I'm so tired of never sleeping more than 3-4 hours in a row, that we've decided to sleep downstairs tonight and let the baby cry it out. He's 9.5 mos. He's a big boy. This is what I wrote to Rachel tonight:
Tonight we begin the grand experiment. We are letting Dominic cry it out. I hate to do this. Really, really. But I NEED SLEEP. NOW. I gave him lots of baby food, some tylenol for the teething, gave him a bath before bed, and nursed him to sleep. I left the lamp on in case he freaks out in the dark. I hope this does it. We even warned the neighbors. They said don't worry, we're hard of hearing anyway. Oh good.
Did I mention I don't like this? He's such a happy boy. I don't want him to be so sad in the morning. I'll probably end up wearing him all day in the Ergo. AAGHH.
Help.
Monday, March 10, 2008
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How did it go?
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned that you nursed to sleep - did that work for you? I've heard that CIO is most effective if done at bedtime rather than nightwakings, because that sets the child's expectations for how things will be when they wake the rest of the night.
However, if just CIO for nightwakings works for you - that is what matters, right? I think my sister did something similar with her son, and it worked for him. I also know that CIO for nightwakings after nursing to sleep didn't work for L., but CIO at bedtime did work for her - so posting this just in case your son is the same way.
I did some research and found out why - there is actually a good reason for why bedtime CIO works better for some kids. Sometimes nursing to sleep can set up a sleep association with sucking / mommy being there that lasts for the rest of the night, causing more nightwakings when the baby is not sucking or mommy is not there later on in the night. If this is the case, the important thing is to set the child's expectations about what the environment will be like while they sleep by having them fall asleep at bedtime in an environment as close as possible to the environment they sleep in - which is what CIO does. Teaches the child to fall asleep in a dark room without mom right there and without sucking on anything.
Hopefully that information is absolutely useless for you, because last night went pretty well and you are confident about the approach you've chosen. But just in case things went badly and you clearly need to rethink, here's my $0.02. I really do hope it is useless information :-) Besides, this isn't your first child - so you probably already have an idea of what works for your children. But just in case . . .
And I think wearing him all day is a great idea. If he's sore at all, that will cheer him up, I bet! If we don't have twins next time, I'll have to try an Ergo. They sound great.
Oh dear, I do hope you got some sleep! I remember those bleery nights, sleep is a mom's best friend.
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