Long story short - we've been "cosleeping" with Cooper in our bed these past few months - ever since his second hospitalization. I don't want to go into the whys and why-nots of this - we are very familiar with the pros and cons of this arrangement and let me just say that this has allowed me to get SOME sleep each night - not much, but much more than I WAS getting prior to that. It's temporary and it's time to start implementing some change if at all possible.
Cooper still gets up numerous times per night. Approximately every 2 hours. He's not "comfort snacking" during these wake times - he's guzzling bottles of formula so clearly he is hungry. I'm not planning to eliminate night time wakings - if he's hungry then he needs to eat. However, every OTHER time he gets up I think it's related to other things - gas pain, teething pain, too hot, too cool, etc. I think THOSE times we could do a better job of helping him go back to sleep on his own to reduce the number of times I'm needed to intervene and help him. BUT, since he's in bed with me (99.9% of the time he's actually laying ON me), I can't help but wake up and go through the checklist of possible issues and I think I'm perpetuating the habit by doing this rather than pausing to allow him to try to work through the issue himself and go back to sleep.
I think (though am not certain) that two things are needed to get him trained to soothe himself back to sleep: 1-I need to not react immediately whenever he wakes up but I can't help it since he's attached to me at the time so we need to find a way to transition him to his crib for the night, and 2-We need to find a way that does not involve the cry-it-out method (can't use that with reflux babies) to get him to sleep in the crib and get himself back to sleep when he's not actually hungry or in pain requiring my intervention. I don't want to screw this up so I've just ordered a book: "The No-Cry Sleep Solution..." and it should be here in a few days. Meantime, I have the nanny putting him in the crib for his naps. It's not been easy and he's been resistant but day by day he stays asleep just a tiny bit longer for the nap in the crib. And I have her taking him up there while he's still awake but showing signs of being sleepy so that he KNOWS he's falling asleep in HIS room and not the family room or mommy and daddy's room.
So...we're taking baby steps here and I can't wait to get that book so I can start working on it even more than we've already begun to do. Wish us luck!
6 comments:
Good luck!! We also co-slept for the first 6 months. Made thoes long nights some what nice. My son also had relfux and I was not doing the CIO method. Its just wrong in my opnion. We started with naps in his crib, then added bedtimes. I would go into his room anytime he woke up and would rock him, nurse him, whatever he needed. He eventually slept thru the night, at 11 months, and has not looked back! We would go in as many times as he needed. The first night we got up like 14 times, but by the third night, it was only about 3. He will do it in his time! Good luck!
Good luck! I hope this works out well for all of you. We still have to swaddle Colton to get him to actually realize its time to sleep. So when he wakes up at night, if he doesn't go back to sleep within a few minutes or his talking/fussing turns to crying, I have to go re-swaddle him to give him the cue that its sleepy time. I also still feed him during the night when he needs it. Our pedi told us to stop the nighttime feedings, but as his mother, I just can't do it. So good luck! I hope that book has lots of good suggestions for you and that you can all start getting more/better sleep
From Lauren - You can do it, Cooper! Its what all of the "cool" kids are doing. (A little peer pressure is good every now and then)
From Amy - Here's wishing you guys luck. You have been through so much you deserve for this one thing to be easy.
From both of us - we highly recommend a Fisher Price Aquarium. Lauren can turn in on all by herself and it mesmerizes her back to sleep. It has a remote control so I can turn in on without entering her room. I know almost instantly if she is going to be able to soothe herself or is going to need my help!
Good luck!
Don't feel the need to explain why you co-sleep. No one should judge unless they've been in your shoes... and even then, they still shouldn't judge!
Once Cooper tolerates more solids, it should help with the number of times he wakes up at night. Chase was waking up and downing 2 full bottles during the night... once I started him on solids, things changed dramatically. The formula just didn't satisfy my little beast!
Good luck with the sleep training... it'll be hard, but stick with it as best you can. (I know, I know, easier said than done, right?)
Good luck! I really liked the no-cry sleep solution. It worked pretty well for us, but not 100%. I also read "Sleep Sense" which was similar to the NCSS, but acknowledged that babies will cry when you change their schedule. I don't believe in CIO, but we did let Bax do some fussing (never got to actual crying, except when I wasn't home. Daddy doesn't have the touch). Now he's a MUCH better sleeper!
I love sleeping with the baby. However, I can't sleep very well with her in bed, just dozing. It's not a deep rewarding sleep. I still have to swaddle her in her crib (don't know what I'm going to do when the swaddle blanket gets too small!), and I've taken to feeding her oatmeal right before bed which as others have said, can really be of assistance.
I am thinking of you and wishing the bed whatever you decide to do.
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