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Sleep, Finally!

By Anonymous

Last night Landon slept from 8:00 PM to 6:00 AM. That is through the night people. Landon's wake up time is not my top choice, but it's a whole lot better than multiple wakings between 2 and 5 AM, so I'll take it.

After six months of night feedings, night cuddling, and night crying (not just Landon), we finally decided to follow Ferber and our pediatrician's advice and let him cry it out. He is 6 months old, weighs 17.5 lbs, and has a belly that could sustain him for days in the desert. For the past two months when we fed him during the night, he'd only drink about half an ounce and then want to play, so he obviously didn't really need to eat. And the few nights that he did sleep more than 7 hours, he was much more cheerful in the morning (and so were his parents) and napped better during the day. He needs sleep, we need sleep, and that mantra is what got me through the past two nights where he cried for 1-3 hours without us picking him up (as Ferber suggests, we periodically went in and checked on him, patted his back, and left- the visits made him more mad, but kept us from imagining all sorts of terrible things happening to him in his crib). Our pediatrician promised it would work quickly, and it did! The first night he cried, off and on, for 3 hours. The second night it was about 1 hour. Last night, he didn't wake up at all. It was glorious. I forgot what this felt like- to not hear a baby cry at 4:30 am, argue with your husband about who should get up with him (JP actually did more night feedings than me, one of the many reasons why I love him), and then get back in bed just in time for a short nap before your alarm goes off.

Landon was so chipper this morning when I went in to get him, he babbled all the way to Maya's, and had lots of smiles when I handed him over. If I wasn't so behind in my reading and paper writing, I'd have lots of smiles too. But well-rested stress is infinitely better than sleep-deprived stress, so my world is looking pretty bright.

Full post as published by Lag Liv on January 22, 2008 (boomark / email).