I love my daughter and I love my wife. And I have to admit that seeing them both snuggled in our bed in the morning when I leave for work brings a happy smile to my face. A couple of days ago Maggie was neatly tucked under MJ's arm and they were both sleeping in the exact same position - beyond cute.
We have been traveling a lot lately and MJ breast feeds so it really have been very simple to just plop Maggie in bed with us (who knew a Queen bed could feel so small). For me, I am not the one who gets up at every Maggie whimper at night. MJ has always made sure I get sleep so I can be productive at work (which is where I am right now .... does blogging count as work productive?)So I have always felt that bedtime routines would be decided by MJ with me supporting.
Well lately MJ and I have discovered that our bed has been taken over by one cute, and sprawled out little girl and neither one of us is sleeping the best. Plus our little trooper hasn't slept through the night yet.... and it seems like the rest of the world has. Maggie had a 6 month check up yesterday and the Dr. gave us some suggestions to help Maggie feel safe to fall asleep, stay asleep and sleep in her crib. (Surprisingly giving her Bourbon in a bottle was not on the list) Last night ..... we stared the sleep battle.
We tried once... and I do mean once... to let Maggie "cry it out". After 30 minutes Maggie was hysterical, MJ and I were crying and I swore I would never do that again. So last night Maggie went to bed at 10pm (which is a huge improvement over 12:30 or 1am which is what she has been doing). At 3 am she woke up for a snack. At 4 am she woke up again. MJ gave her some pats and her paci back and let Maggie fuss. I can honestly say (because MJ is totally in tune with Maggie) that this was the first time Maggie has fussed more than a few minutes.
She went from fussing to freaking out so MJ picked her up and let her have another snack. And then put her back in the crib. Over the next 30 minutes Maggie would fuss, fall asleep, wake up, fuss, fall asleep, wake up, lather, rinse and repeat. Finally at like 4:50 she fell asleep ..... only to bonk her head on the side of the crib and wake up crying again. Over the next 40 minutes we would comfort her, rub her back etc etc but let her fuss. And finally FINALLY at 5:45 she fell asleep on her own.
By this point I had showered and was ready for work. MJ crawled back to bed, I headed out. Things were great. Then I started driving to work and I felt terrible. My poor girl was whimpering for 1:45 minutes on and off. I wanted to run home and hug her and tell her how sorry I was to ever even let her cry. I guess this just shows that I am indeed a mom. I know what we did was no big deal because she never got that upset. It is just funny to me how I never even want Maggie to be sad - not for one minute.
So where do we go from here? I figure it will take a couple of weeks to get her on a new schedule and sleeping in her own bed. Wish us luck
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We have a noise machine in the cirb, set on ocean on loud and it works wonders for him... we also started no paci in teh crib because we found we were just getting up to replace the paci!
ReplyDeleteHope things start working better soon, maybe let her get used to her crib first then try sleep train again, one thing at a time you know?
Good Luck!