Another Sleep Experiment

In preparation for our migration to the homeland (we're going to the phils), we had decided (ok, I decided and G sort of went along with it) that we had better train s to sleep in the same room with us and her sister. To those who do not know, s had been sleeping in her own room since her birth. She and I shared the room for the first 4 months but when we started sleep training, she slept alone. I have found that whenever I tried sleeping in her room with her, she tended to wake up more because she wants to be held or carried. My reasoning is that back home, we would probably all be in one room anyway and it'll be hard to have her crying all night there. I won't hear the end of it from my parents, I am sure.

So we did it. We took advantage of G's time off and we just did it. We moved her crib into our room and put her to sleep the same way. I was surprised actually that she slept the same way in our room. G would do the same routine and put her down awake. She slept. Of course, she awoke a few times at night. The first night, she cried loudly and incessantly at 5:00 AM, waking up her poor sister. We have a rule that we don't go to her before 6:00 because I don't want to encourage her waking up any earlier than that.

So far it's going better than expected. It hasn't been quite so hellish. However I do have to get used to her numerous nightwakings, her grunting and random 2 second cries. However my experience with s has taught me that the only constant with her sleep habits is that it is bound to change sooner than later.

There must be a lesson here

Too bad I am too blurry-eyed to see it. As feared, last night turned out to be a horrendous night for sleep. It was a record breaking evening AND early morning. Before last night, s would cry within an hour of falling asleep. She would cry loud and hard but after she is done, she sleeps. At every awakening after that, she would eat and then proceed to fall back asleep for at least 3 hours at a time, usually more. She has actually gone for 8 hours once. Last night she woke up almost every 2 hours starting at midnight. And today is a day that I needed to be able to focus.

I want to see every adversity as a way for the universe to teach me something. Right now I am having a difficult time putting two words together, so maybe I am just missing the lesson.

Sleep...everybody needs some sleep

Can someone please convince s of this? I don't seem to be conveying the information as clearly as I should or she is just not listening. Oh yeah...she is too busy screaming to be listening. I got a report from G that she hasn't been sleeping much today, in small 30 minute increments probably just enough to take the edge off her tiredness. Tonight's "adventure" is going to be truly interesting.

To top it all, g seems to be going a "meltdown" phase. She goes into meltdown mode in a flash. She could be happily playing one second and then a moment later be in the middle of the worst cry heard in the tri-state. It's so hard to see her in such a state.

In the midst of all this, I am trying to find some calm. It's been really hard to muster the patience to deal with the meltdowns on very little sleep. However I realize confronting the meltdown with a meltdown results in madness. So I take a deep breath.

Consistency just bit the dust

I am blogging this as s is talking to herself over the intercom. Yes, the official time is 10:00 PM and she is awake. Tonight started as many other nights. She was tired when I got home. So after spending our quality minutes together, I started her nighttime routine which consists of the wipe down (too tired for a shower today), a song and nursing. She fell asleep quickly. I left her room and expected a cry around the 20 minute mark (strangely she has been crying out/waking up around 20 minutes into her sleep). That didn't occur. So I thought that I was in the clear. I was so very wrong!!!

She woke up at the 2 hour mark frantically crying. I tried to keep out. I tried for an hour and she cried for an hour (well, almost an hour). I finally thought that maybe she was just hungry. So I went in to feed her. She ate only 2 oz and nursed a little. She was already falling back asleep until she realized it. Somehow she forced herself to wake. She started to look around, coo, talk, etc. That was the precise moment when I realized that I should have stuck to my own rules about consistency. With a heavy sigh, I rocked her for a few minutes, burp her a little more and kissed her little head. I laid her in bed and left the room.

For the last 30 minutes, she was just cooing and talking. Then finally in the last 3 minutes, she has restarted the frantic crying. It is going to be another long night.

Sleep training #6

It is day #6 of the sleep training and all is quiet in the house. Well, not all. s made a few peeps every hour but nothing compared to the earth shattering screams of the first few days. I think it is a form of torture to have a mother listen to her baby cry incessantly and not do anything to appease her.

For the last few days, I have looked at her many times during the day searching for psychological damage like I would diaper rash. As if it would somehow surface on her cheek and I could rub some ointment on it.

There is no way to really know what is really right because there is no way to raise the same child twice. So in this case, I will just have to suffer this uncertainty.