Day 2 was not as tough as Day 1. For nap time I nursed and laid him down in his bed and left him. He only cried for 12 minutes this time before he was out. This nap was short lived. About 30 minutes later I heard crying. Poor thing sounded so stressed out. So I went in and rescued him.
Bedtime was a little different. I called it our “cheat night”. We had our bi-weekly family night at my brother’s house this week. Unfortunately, but fortunately, we weren’t home for the normal bedtime routine. When we got home my little man was asleep. All I had to do was change him. But instead while changing him I tried to wake him gently. We nursed briefly and in the bed he went. Just like before, he whimpered a bit then went back to sleep.
At about 2:30 – 3ish a.m. he woke up. I made an attempt to not pick him up at all. It was unsuccessful. He started to get a little loud so I picked him up so he wouldn’t wake his dad. This time we didn’t nurse. I rocked him, gave him his pacifier, and he went to sleep. Didn’t wake up until 6:30 a.m.! And then we welcomed Day 3.
Today, we went a slightly different route. I’m starting to feel a little bad about the trauma that the baby seems to be experiencing. I can’t even motion towards or lean over his bed without him bursting into hysterics. But I’m still trying to hang tough. Still trying to stay the course.
At naptime I took a slightly different approach with the same end goal in mind. As he approached exhaustion he began insisting on nursing himself to sleep. We nursed sitting in my bed and I talked to him and kissed his hands in a valiant effort to keep him awake. My attempt was successful. After he released me I moved him into his bed. This time the difference was I stayed with him. Once I laid him down I rubbed his legs to calm him as he approached anxiety. Then slowly but surely I began to back away from him. From his legs to leaning on the edge, from the edge to sitting on my bed close by, from the bed to the door. Every time I moved away he started to fuss. “No, no, no,” would get him to pull himself together.
Finally I made it out. That process took 15 minutes. But the result was minimal tears. At least I thought so. Once I walked out the door he started up the real drama. But the bright side was he did that for about 15 more minutes. (sigh) I should of just done that to begin with and saved myself valuable time. Oh well, lesson learned. Once again he slept for about 30 minutes before waking up right back in his fit.
Now, here’s where I learned a real lesson. I went in to him too soon. My mistake. I’ll have to test this theory to confirm. (Keep you posted). He didn’t realize that I was there. As I watched, slowly he began to try to go back to sleep. He was putting up a really good fight. Still crying and calling my name, he grabbed his elephant and lay back down. At that point I realized, “Dang!, I shoulda waited.” Sit up, lay down, cry, don’t cry… Until he finally realized I was there. He stopped crying. There we were looking at each other. For about five minutes neither one of us did anything. Then the drama continued…
I waited trying to not pick him up in the midst of the crying. I don’t want him to think that a tantrum will get him what he wants. It had escalated to the point that his cry was silent. After calming him off the ledge to just a cry I picked him up. Would you believe that he stopped immediately as though nothing had ever happened?! That little booger.
Remember, he was still sleepy. He laid his head down on my chest and I rocked him a bit. Then I had a bright idea! Let me climb my tail into his bed. At least try to get him to see that his bed is not the enemy. In we went. (Please keep in mind that his bed is a Pack n’ Play.) I sat with him and eventually made him lay down. He spread himself so both arms were on my legs and his legs were in my lap. In other words, I was not moving without him knowing about it. LOL.
I was able to slowly pull myself from underneath him while he wasn’t completely sleeping. As I moved he adjusted and drifted further. Eventually, he was asleep again.
Bedtime tonight was relatively easy. For whatever reason he was exhausted. I bathed him and attempted to nurse him. I guess since he just ate he wasn’t really interested. I gave him his pacifier, rocked him until his eyes began to roll. In the bed he went. I turned off all the lights accept an extremely dim night light. I rubbed his leg for a bit and then began the easing away. In about five minutes he was asleep and I was out! Mission complete!
I’m going to see what happens if I don’t go to him when he wakes up tonight. Stay tuned.
Miracles & Blessings.
A little lengthy in word and deed, but as I said, Mission Complete. I'm exhausted!
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