Sweet Screams?

Ahhh, sleep training.

At one point, I believe all parents go through this horror. Up until about 2 weeks ago I was perfectly content spoiling Parker rotten for the rest of his life by letting him sleep in bed with Jamie and I (awful practice, I know) Ever since the night he was born and they wheeled him in next to me in the little plastic hospital grade bassinet snugly burritoed (is that a word?) in his blanket. I spent the first 3 hours after the nurse shut off the lights and Jamie began snoring staring at the wad of blankets through the plastic. It didn't move and I couldn't discern any sort of breathing motion either. After a few times of poking the bundle with my finger and making that little caterpillar squirm I soothed my nerves by scooping him up and nestling him into my arms for the rest of the night...and all of the nights following that one. With a brand new 7 pound baby that wakes up to eat every 2 hours its the ideal situation for mommy. I didn't even need to open my eyes to feed him! However, 7 and a half months down the road when I am still being woken up several times a night for feedings it seems much less convenient. Not only for me, but my poor husband was banished to the farthest sliver of the edge of our bed each night with very little covers.

So two weeks ago I became determined to set it right and get our whole family a better nights sleep by getting him into his very expensive yet-to-be used crib. Let the wrath of the baby begin!

Night #1: I bathe him, lotion him, turn of the lights and feed him and rock him. He begin to fall asleep and I am thinking "YES! I've got this in the bag!" I get up from the glider and begin to lay him down into the crib. Before his tiny booty hits the sheets the first scream is let out... "Oh no!" I lay him down and make myself comfortable on the floor next to him and rub his back as he screams and writhes in angst. It is probably one of the worst feeling s ever as a mommy to see your child fully convinced the end of all things is upon him because of something you are doing. He falls asleep after and hour and a half of screaming and I drag myself to bed. He wakes up about every 2 hours that night to eat and cries himself to sleep for about 10 minutes each time. At 4:30 am he comes back to bed with me because I am exhausted and need sleep.

Night #2: Same routine, I lay him down and he cries for 30 minutes...hmmm...that was easier. He wakes up only two times and sleeps the ENTIRE night in his own bed. I felt like a rock star! I was rested, he was rested and we were ready to roll!

Night #3: He falls asleep before I have a chance to get him to his bed and he sleeps...wait for it... ALL NIGHT LONG without waking up one single time! He is super baby!

Since night three I have had the best, most restful nights of sleep since before I entered preterm labor at 29 weeks. Why did I not do this way before??? I have my bedroom back, time in the evening to get things done, peace of mind knowing he will not fall out of the bed, and time for my husband. Parker zonks out each evening and sleeps like a rock and wakes up the happiest little boy you have ever seen. He still takes naps on top of sleeping a solid 10 hours per night.

This experience has definitely taught me that at times, parenting is hard and it seems much less of a hassle to do the easy thing rather than the best thing. Never again!