Hooray for SLEEP!!!

I've been saying all along since Leo was born, I felt like I had postpartum, and lots of anxiety and I always felt like it was really connected to lack of sleep. I am really sensitive to interrupted sleep. Even Robbie, who is usually fine even with little sleep, had gotten to the point that Leo's frequent awakenings were really taking a toll. We talked and decided maybe we'd have to do "cry it out". Now stop judging if you are anti-cry-it-out, and just read to the end. I'm not a big fan either, but sometimes the best decisions are not the easiest ones.

We'd done it with Barbara at about 8 months and although I was staunchly opposed to it beforehand. I had kind of been really into attachment parenting, and had been cosleeping, it was NOT working for us- as a couple, as parents, as humans in need of sleep and snapping at each other constantly! I did LOTS of reading, and tried "the No Cry Sleep Solution" by Elizabeth Pantley first. I even asked some other more experienced Catholic moms, and was dismayed when they recommended, "you're just going to have to let her cry". I remember thinking they must be ignorant, hadn't they read Dr. Sears and how your baby would lose their trust and be unattached and ruined? But in the end, we finally decided to do it. Robbie had to physically keep me from going in to get her at one point, and I think I was crying harder than she was. After about a week, when she satrted consistently sleeping through the night (and each night was MUCH less crying than the first night) and she would wake up so happy and bubbly and well rested, and so would we. Seeing how she's turned out to be such a wonderful girl, securely attached and still very emotionally close with us, we both agree that it was one of our better decisions as parents, because it dramatically improved everyone's quality of life and outlook! Jimmy and Sammy were naturally better sleepers, and we didn't hold them through every nap and cosleep as much (just for nursing and naps with me mostly) so we never had to get to that point. They just eventually slept through the night.

But we were at this point with Leo- I was so miserably tired and feeling depressed and anxious. So we made up our minds. We had a plan in place- if he woke up before we went to bed, as he often did, he would cry it out in his crib in our room. If he woke up after we went to bed, we'd have him cry it out in the pack n play at the bottom of the basement steps, which is still close to our room, but not right there IN the room. I was so nervous.

Now have you ever heard these parents who tell you they go to do cry it out and their kid falls asleep within 5 minutes and it's the magical cure? And you sit there thinking, "Shut the heck up, my kid would never do that!" or you think they must be lying or have some kind of mutant genes? Well now I know that it IS possible for this to happen!!! I don't think it's likely to happen with just any baby obviously, it must depend somewhat on temperament, and luck, and if you've been co-sleeping for every single nap and bedtime (as we did with Barbara) it's unlikely to happen, but it CAN happen- just read!:

The first night, I put him down in his crib, turned on the white noise machine, and closed the door. He cried for TWO minutes, went right to sleep and slept all night. The second night, he went righ tto sleep, he slept all the way until 3 A.M, Robbie brought him to the pack n play, he went BACK to sleep within 5 minutes (without nursing) and was out until about 7! The next night, slept all night... and so on it's been with him sleeping all night in the crib in our room! The white noise machine really seems to help- I kind of laughed at our friends for us=ing one, b/c we had one with Barbara and it was useless, but ours was pretty quiet- we now got the same one as they had (with an alarm clock too since I really needed an alarm clock) and it works AWESOME for helping him get to sleep- being put down awake but drowsy- and it is super for during the day for his naps to drown out Sam's noise!

I can't tell you how happy and energetic and what a great mood I've been in, since I've been getting full nights rest. I forgot how great it can feel to feel normal!! And I can't believe how much the normal me can get done, without being in such a stupor half the time! Ahhhhh, sleep I love you. *blissful sigh* :) :) :)