Friday, February 10, 2012

Our Sleep Training Journey :: Day 10

I honestly didn't think I would make it this long.  Don't get me wrong, it is challenging hard, really hard.  Natalie has done a great job learning to sleep, but the challenge comes in getting up to the alarm at all hours of the night during this weaning process. I just don't want to do it.  I want to sleep as long as she does.  I want to  feed her when she wakes up at 5:00.  The only thing that keeps me going is my memories, I remember that we've been down that path before.  I went back to work when Natalie was eight weeks old and she was only waking for her 4 am feeding.  Fast forward 6-7 months and we were waking at least three times a night, sometimes as often as every hour throughout the night.  I do not want to go back there, ever.  So I keep pressing on, however I now must enlist help from Ryan.  I am starting to hit snooze or flat out sleep through my alarm for the scheduled dreamfeed.  So I have asked Ryan to set his alarm and make me get out of bed.  We are getting so close (insert wishful thinking font here) to sleeping for long stretches and I must press on.

Last night looked quite similar to the past few nights:

8:00 - Natalie was in bed. There was minimal fussing, but lots of playing with the six pacifiers in her bed
8:12 - Asleep.

10:30 - Dreamfeed before I went to bed

3:00 - Start of alarm sequence - which continued until 4:30 when Natalie fussed and I cursed myself for not getting out of bed at the scheduled time.  If I had just gotten up, she probably wouldn't have woke up! She cried off and on for 13 minutes

4:50 - Went in to dreamfeed Natalie, she had been quiet and still for 7 minutes so I assumed she had gone back to sleep.  When I opened her door, she sat right up - ugh!!  I fed her, but kept her awake.  She ate for 3 minutes, I put her in bed awake and she went right back to sleep.

7:30 - Natalie began stirring, but kept going back to sleep
7:50 - Up for the day (yes I was late to work this morning)

It is a good thing that I keep being reminded to look 'on paper' to see our progress.  I can see it on paper, I am more tired than ever so I don't feel it.  If someone would have told me 10 days ago that Natalie would soon only get up once/night I would have been ecstatic.  I need to remember that perspective to keep motivated to do this.  This is short term, even if it takes a month (written with pleading, "please no" undertone here).  When we're done she will know how to sleep and that is a lesson that will help all of us for the long term future.

3 comments:

  1. I love that you are documenting everything. Won't it be funny to read in the future when they don't want to ever get out of bed,lol

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    1. I think I will have her read it. I wouldn't mind not getting out of bed for a few days though ;)

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  2. I agree with Melissa. Read this when she is 10 and you have to wake them up for an hour to get them up for school!

    Good job. You are stronger than me. I still get Logan out of bed when he cries. Not sure if its because he will wake up Charlotte or not. But if they are in separate rooms (L sleeps in Ds room sometimes) then I will let them both cry it out. I need a 4bedroom house, lol

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