Soooo, as we may have mentioned once or twice, Baby N is a notoriously bad sleeper. As in he wakes up almost every 2 hours - and won't go back to sleep unless he gets a bottle (I guess he still thinks he's a newborn). We've tried a pacifier & he just won't take it for more than 10 seconds. I never thought I'd be trying to get a 6 month old to TAKE a pacifier. But, he sucks on the bottle to soothe himself back to sleep & I want him to sleep, so we try the very special pacifier - given to us by his parents, who swear he uses it (and who want it back for sentimental reasons, if he doesn't use it).
Last night I started, "Let's-get-Baby-N-to-sleep-on-his-own Sleep Training Boot Camp." He goes down fine, but usually with a bottle, so that's the first thing I changed. Now one of us will take him upstairs and give him his bottle until he's almost ready to fall asleep, then put him in his crib. Basic, right? Maybe for most kids, but usually moving him after he falls asleep wakes him completely up and the screaming begins. But, last night I tried something different. I noticed in the car the other day that when I turned up the radio a bit he fell right to sleep (during a screaming bout). Then, I remembered that his mom wrote in a note that he "likes loud music." So, I thought - let's try that & brought up the world's last CD player & put in the only CD I could find - Adele's 21. Who wouldn't want to fall asleep with with sweet, sweet sounds of Adele crooning in their ear? I put him in his crib, gave him the pacifier (which was spit out in the noted 10 seconds) turned up Adele and left. He fell asleep.
Ok. That worked. But falling asleep at bedtime isn't the problem. It's staying asleep. We were just falling asleep when he woke up around 11:30. I gave him his pacifier and rubbed his head and told him it was time to sleep then left. He whined and cried (not his ear-drum shattering cry though) for about 5 minutes (although it felt like forever) then was quiet. He fell back to sleep. On his own.
Cut to 2 hours later. He's up and crying. I do the same thing again. He doesn't stop, I wait 5 minutes then figure that maybe I should not stop the bottle cold turkey and gave him some watered-down formula & we went right back to sleep. Ok, not bad.
2 hours later, it's 4 am. He's screaming. Now, when I say screaming, I mean screaming. Like he is slowly being eaten by a bear. It's ridiculous. I vowed that he will not win this battle - no bottle and I will not pick him up & bring him to my bed. Every 5 or 6 minutes for an hour, I would go into him, give him the pacifier rub his head (he LOVES that) tell him he's ok and it's time to sleep then I go back to bed. After an hour of that every 5 minutes he fell asleep until 6ish, which is when Andrea wakes up.
So, I will attempt to do this for a week and hope it makes a difference. Fingers crossed it will because we are going to Mexico for 4 days for my sister's wedding next week and Andrea's mom & aunt are watching the kids - I would like at least SOME sleep improvement by then. No deserves to go through this - especially if they are doing us a favor. (We locked them in back when we only had 3 kids - oops! sorry guys!)
Last night I started, "Let's-get-Baby-N-to-sleep-on-his-own Sleep Training Boot Camp." He goes down fine, but usually with a bottle, so that's the first thing I changed. Now one of us will take him upstairs and give him his bottle until he's almost ready to fall asleep, then put him in his crib. Basic, right? Maybe for most kids, but usually moving him after he falls asleep wakes him completely up and the screaming begins. But, last night I tried something different. I noticed in the car the other day that when I turned up the radio a bit he fell right to sleep (during a screaming bout). Then, I remembered that his mom wrote in a note that he "likes loud music." So, I thought - let's try that & brought up the world's last CD player & put in the only CD I could find - Adele's 21. Who wouldn't want to fall asleep with with sweet, sweet sounds of Adele crooning in their ear? I put him in his crib, gave him the pacifier (which was spit out in the noted 10 seconds) turned up Adele and left. He fell asleep.
Ok. That worked. But falling asleep at bedtime isn't the problem. It's staying asleep. We were just falling asleep when he woke up around 11:30. I gave him his pacifier and rubbed his head and told him it was time to sleep then left. He whined and cried (not his ear-drum shattering cry though) for about 5 minutes (although it felt like forever) then was quiet. He fell back to sleep. On his own.
Cut to 2 hours later. He's up and crying. I do the same thing again. He doesn't stop, I wait 5 minutes then figure that maybe I should not stop the bottle cold turkey and gave him some watered-down formula & we went right back to sleep. Ok, not bad.
2 hours later, it's 4 am. He's screaming. Now, when I say screaming, I mean screaming. Like he is slowly being eaten by a bear. It's ridiculous. I vowed that he will not win this battle - no bottle and I will not pick him up & bring him to my bed. Every 5 or 6 minutes for an hour, I would go into him, give him the pacifier rub his head (he LOVES that) tell him he's ok and it's time to sleep then I go back to bed. After an hour of that every 5 minutes he fell asleep until 6ish, which is when Andrea wakes up.
So, I will attempt to do this for a week and hope it makes a difference. Fingers crossed it will because we are going to Mexico for 4 days for my sister's wedding next week and Andrea's mom & aunt are watching the kids - I would like at least SOME sleep improvement by then. No deserves to go through this - especially if they are doing us a favor. (We locked them in back when we only had 3 kids - oops! sorry guys!)
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