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5 comments:
Just recently, I started making a serious effort toward getting 10 mo to sleep through the night. She was waking up consistently every 2-3 hours, even though I wasn't nursing her at night.
One night, I just let her cry it out. I hadn't tried this before because 2 yo is such a light sleeper. But I didn't want to get up in the night anymore. So. I let her cry. And her cry is no gentle whimper. It's an all-out, high-pitched scream. I wondered if the neighbors were going to call the cops on me. She went for about a half hour and then went to sleep. Two hours later, she screamed again for about 20 minutes, and then finally stayed out 'til morning. And thankfully, 2 yo stayed asleep through it all.
Right now, 10 mo still cries occasionally in the night, but it's only a cry and it lasts for barely a minute, if that. Ahhh....sleep. How I've missed you!
Well, except that's not the end of the story. Besides dealing with our active night sleeper (4yo), 2 yo still sometimes wakes up in the night. Only in the past 3 months did he finally give up his middle-of-the-night wake up cry for a cup of milk. We're still trying to convince him that 5:30 in the morning is too early to be awake. And sometimes, he'll still wake up crying in the middle of the night and need us to help him get back to sleep.
Did any of you struggle with getting your kids to sleep through the night??
My twins did not sleep through the night until they were 9 months old. At nine months, my sister told me, "you'd better let them cry it out for a few nights, because if you don't they'll be sleeping in your bed for years!" Well, that was motivation enough for me, so I (being the bear-of-a-person that I was due to lack of sleep) let them cry it out that very night. You know what? They only cried for 15 min.! The next night the same, and by the third night, they were sleeping through completely. It showed me that I was afraid of letting them cry it out, and therefore was teaching them to get up for a nursing. Tsk, tsk! For my third child, I was much more comfie with the idea of letting her cry it out. Of course, you have to comfort them by patting them on the back if they get really upset. Letting the daddy do this seems to help the situation, rather than the "nursing machine" coming in and leaving without a feeding. Boy, that makes them really mad!
Meghan
Karen, sounds like you are on your way to sleeping through the night. Thankfully, we have always had pretty good sleepers, they've always had random times that they woke up for various reasons, but generally it was when they weren't feeling well, cold, fever, etc. We did the cry it out thing too btw. Also, as Megs said, Ty most times is the one that gets up at night with them...even still.
On the 5.30 is too early conversation...have you tried a clock? Sorry didn't mean that to sound bad, I mean, I have seen little alarm type clocks that have Thomas (or princesses) on the face with his eyes open if it is 'wake' time or his eyes are closed if it is still 'sleeping' time. Does that make sense? Not used them myself, but assume you set the times for wake and sleep. I've also talked to people before that had a digital clock in their room or the hallway or whatever and taught the child in question that until the clock says xxxx time you have to go back to bed....or you can't get up and play til the time is xxxx or whatever...you get the idea. Emma was always an early riser [not by your crews standards tho ;o)] Anyway, we told her when she was real small that she couldn't get up til her sister was up or til she heard us up with her brother (remember his room was above hers) She was usually real good about getting a book to read quietly etc til she heard us up. Often times she would fall back to sleep herself. At almost 8 years old, she is still an early riser, her sister on the other hand, if left alone, would sleep 1/2 the morning away!
Good luck with it! Let us know how you get on.....kel
Our three are sleeping through the night (except for trips to the bathroom and random other times some nights!). Two of them slept through the night at about 6 months and the other one was at about 10 months. We did eventually let them cry it out- but not if it was a horrible, Momma-is-getting-her-heart-ripped-out cry. I could usually tell the difference in something being wrong and just not wanting to go to bed. There were times at the beginning it would be 20 minutes of crying, but if I knew they were safe and fed and dry and whatnot, they would cry a little and learn to fall asleep on their own. It worked for us, but it was in no way easy or calming for any parent to listen to!
I love that all parents of toddlers say "my children are sleeping through the night except when..." We are all so grateful for just a few hours of uninterrupted sleep that getting up twice a night is the new normal. :-)
I think we have all said goodbye to sleep until they are teenagers. (Then we'll just stay up late worrying about them coming home)... and trying to wake them the next morning for school or church.
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