Alas great mood, I knew thee well
This is so, so, so, sooooo wrong of me to admit because I am bound to jinx things, but here I go: I think we stumbled across a breakthrough with W’s sleeping issues. I haven’t written much about it because it seemed his no interest in sleep was normal and there wasn’t much to do about it but wade through the sleepless nights and the sleepier days.
So what was I doing before? Well we have a bedtime routine that starts as early as 5:00pm (depending on the day and whether or not he has had a proper nap). This part of the routine stays the same: dinner, bath, bottle, book, songs. In the past I would rock and sing to W until he was about 80% asleep and then I would slowly put him down. And he would bounce back up and begin screaming. The process was taking for fucking ever! (It has been months since I have seen jeopardy. Months!)
It got so bad that I pawned the putting down bit off to Mother guilting her with, “But I made dinner!” And at first she was a bedtime rock-star. W adored winding down with her. He adored it so much that eventually we realized he had somehow stretched what used to be a 10-15 minute process into nearly an hour (sometimes more). And even then he would never really settle down. Mother would basically try to wear him out and then would put him in the pack and play and leave his room. And he would get soooo pissed off that playtime had ended that he would stand in the corner of the pack and play and rock side to side while screaming for one of us to come back.
(insert awful, yucky, I’M A BAD MOTHER feelings here- because screaming baby has to be bad, right? Sigh.)
Bedtime had become another playtime for W. The calming down post dinner was turning into an alert moment that he didn’t want to miss. Because there was music! And swaying! And more books! Why on earth would a kid want to sleep when so much awesome was happening.
So as we were trying to sleep train W he was actually awake training us. Oh my brilliant, brilliant boy.
It was out of frustration that I took back the putting W down bit from my exhausted Mother. I stretched out bath-time by a few minutes, dressed him in jammies, grabbed a bottle and we quietly headed upstairs. As soon as we crossed the threshold of his room he shook his head, “nooooo”. I fed him his bottle (yes, we still use bottles for morning milk and evening milk) while reading two books. Then I turned on his sound machine, put him down, and walked away. And I swear it was if he knew I meant business because he didn’t immediately bounce back up like he used to. He cried but the crying stopped in under 30 seconds.
And now? Now I totally have a baby that can go to sleep on his own. At least for this moment in time. But probably not ever again because I just broke the rules by telling you all about it. I am also breaking the rules by sharing that when he wakes up from a nap he doesn’t immediately go to the yelling place, but now will play or babble a bit. And sometimes he will wake up, play for a bit, and then curl up and go back to sleep. (It does appear that we have evolved into one nap a day. *weeps*)
Just when I was ready to do the happy dance over successful sleep training I found out that another toddler beast was back. Oh yes. Monster teething is back. He has all of the baby teeth he will have until the 2 year molars show up for the party, but the canines are coming in so slowly. This morning they were noticeably more pronounced. And with that came a runny nose, no interest in food. Basically we have a whiny, flinging, flaily, head bonking, Captain unAdorable. (he shook his head at a banana, ya’ll. That is HUGE.)
Just yesterday he was so sweet and tender and lovely. And today he is super emo toddler that doesn’t even chuckle for Elmo. (I did manage to get a, “heh” out of him over an episode of Tom & Jerry but that could have been gas.)
Right now he is napping with his good friend generic ibuprofen and I am hoping that when he wakes up he will have bounced back. Pretty please.
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
sounds promising, with just a little bit of tooth ache in between…fingers crossed for you that the previous success stays around!
Poor little guy! Why must teeth be so painful?! But congrats on hopefully getting a better bedtime routine. And also? Totally fell out of my chair laughing at the description of him as a “super emo toddler.” The visual that popped into my head was priceless.
Teething sucks! But, the whole sleep thing sounds like you’ve made huge progress.
Ya know, now that you’ve labeled him “super emo toddler”, you really have to find him an outfit to match that description.
If it’s not one thing it’s another. Good luck!
Thank you SO much for sharing. It’s nice to know others have difficulty with the sleep too. He is smart!
E is evolving into quite the patient, confident baby. HURRAY! (at least with us. Daycare and others aren’t having it so easy)
Teething will pass; sleep training is forever. You’re just getting into the awesomeness of long nights and a long nap… and one long is better than two who-knows, which is what we used to have. Congratulations on doing the hard part – he will have the benefit of it always.
Yikes about the teeth. Congrats on the sleep. I’m a huge fan of sleep training. Once the foundation is in place and they know how to fall asleep on their own, I’ve found that they fall right back into it once the disturbance (new tooth, cold) ends. It’s also easier for you to re-sleep train them if it’s ever necessary because (1) you know that they have the ability to do it because they’ve done it before and (2) you know it’s in their best interest because sleeping is an independent act and I think it is crucially important that kids not learn to make any unhealthy or unsustainable sleep associations or dependencies. I know there are many attachment parenting folks who disagree with that but it comes down to parenting philosophy.
Sleep training sucks, but the end is amazing. We were down to 1 nap a day around a year, too. But, they all take a nap together for same amount of time and that works for me.
Hey, that generic stuff seems to be the best way to go
Meds – that’s all I tend to buy.
Hope those canines break through soon so you can get Captain Adorable back to the happy state again. Poor guy! And hopefully then the sleep will follow.
So glad the sleeping is going better (hope it continues to) and hope the teething is complete soon.
Sleep training does work … eventually. It does pay off in the end, I promise.
I think this may be my favorite W photo! He looks like he is pondering the meaning of life, or gravity, or something profound. Lovely.