I created a monster!
When we first brought Owain home from the hospital at six weeks old he was really easy to get to sleep. I would feed him his bottle he would either fall asleep in my arms and I would lay him in his crib and he would stay asleep until his next feeding in three hours. Sometime he would still be awake. If that was the case I would turn on his light show and he would fall asleep on his own within a few minutes. Piece a cake!
Well within the last month I started a really bad habit I always told myself I would never do when I had children. Around 5 am Owain usually wakes up for a feeding. After his feeding he goes right back to sleep. Within the last month I have been bringing Owain into bed with us. I justified it by telling myself it's only for a few hours and I really enjoyed that snuggle time with him. I figured it's ok to spoil him after everything his been through. I still feel like I have a lot of snuggling to make up to him for not be able to be held for the first three weeks of his life. He deserves it, right?
Well the last couple of nights putting Owain to bed as been a complete nightmare! He usually goes to sleep between 7-8 pm. I feed him his bottle,rock him to sleep and lay him in his crib. The second I lay him down he wakes up. So I give him his soothie and the little stinker pulls it out and began to cry . I decided maybe it's time to give him some tough love. I let him cry for ten minutes to see if he would cry him self to sleep( the longest ten minutes ever!) He is so stubborn (I wonder were he got that from?) he never gives up! He knows if he cries long enough mommy will rescue him and sure enough I always do. How can I not I hate listening to him cry like that! As soon as I walk into the room and Owain can see me he immediately stops crying and smiles. That little stinker! He already nows are to work his momma.
Needless to say the last couple of nights it as taken me anywhere from two to three hours to get him to sleep in his bed. I can't keep doing this every night. I look forward to having the evening when Owain is sleeping to eat dinner and have some time for me. Which I don't even know what that is anymore or when I will ever have the time for me? Maybe in eighteen years?
I am thinking I am going to have to put a stop to bringing him into bed with us in the early morning. It saddens me to have to do that. I love snuggling with him. I look forward to the early morning snuggle time. That is the only thing I can think of why he won't sleep in his crib. So early tomorrow morning you won't be seeing Owain in mommy and daddy's bed. So we will have to wait and see how tomorrow night goes. I don't think I can take another three hours to get him to sleep in his bed.
To all mom's out their if you have any suggestions I would love some motherly advice.
Well within the last month I started a really bad habit I always told myself I would never do when I had children. Around 5 am Owain usually wakes up for a feeding. After his feeding he goes right back to sleep. Within the last month I have been bringing Owain into bed with us. I justified it by telling myself it's only for a few hours and I really enjoyed that snuggle time with him. I figured it's ok to spoil him after everything his been through. I still feel like I have a lot of snuggling to make up to him for not be able to be held for the first three weeks of his life. He deserves it, right?
Well the last couple of nights putting Owain to bed as been a complete nightmare! He usually goes to sleep between 7-8 pm. I feed him his bottle,rock him to sleep and lay him in his crib. The second I lay him down he wakes up. So I give him his soothie and the little stinker pulls it out and began to cry . I decided maybe it's time to give him some tough love. I let him cry for ten minutes to see if he would cry him self to sleep( the longest ten minutes ever!) He is so stubborn (I wonder were he got that from?) he never gives up! He knows if he cries long enough mommy will rescue him and sure enough I always do. How can I not I hate listening to him cry like that! As soon as I walk into the room and Owain can see me he immediately stops crying and smiles. That little stinker! He already nows are to work his momma.
Needless to say the last couple of nights it as taken me anywhere from two to three hours to get him to sleep in his bed. I can't keep doing this every night. I look forward to having the evening when Owain is sleeping to eat dinner and have some time for me. Which I don't even know what that is anymore or when I will ever have the time for me? Maybe in eighteen years?
I am thinking I am going to have to put a stop to bringing him into bed with us in the early morning. It saddens me to have to do that. I love snuggling with him. I look forward to the early morning snuggle time. That is the only thing I can think of why he won't sleep in his crib. So early tomorrow morning you won't be seeing Owain in mommy and daddy's bed. So we will have to wait and see how tomorrow night goes. I don't think I can take another three hours to get him to sleep in his bed.
To all mom's out their if you have any suggestions I would love some motherly advice.
Hey Amber,
First of all, you have been posting up a storm and I just noticed so you may get a bunch of comments from me...
Secondly, I really feel for you. You are caught between a rock and a hard place because of course you want to snuggle that little monster and you have all the emotiona DH issues that don't help. I still deal with that "guilt" and Owen is 16 months!
What we have done with both kids is set the timer for 15 minutes and let them cry it out. Once the 15 minutes is up we go in and comfort without picking up. I think we have let them go through the 15 minutes twice and then I pick them up. We didn't let it go longer than 30 minutes and then we would do it again the next night. It took a couple of nights with both. It was hard. There were some nights where I ended up on the back porch on the other side of the house with three closed doors between us trying not to hear (while my husband was in with them) because I couldn't listen to it. So I would suggest taking turns if you can.
The only other suggestion is to stick your ground, as you said the little stinker knows that you will come rescue him.
Good luck and you're doing a great job, that little boy is so loved!
darcy
hi Amber,
i guess we've gone the opposite way. zero and i agreed that having the snuggle time was too important to us, especially when i went back to work full time and didn't get to spend quality time with molly during the day. and we just can't bare to listen to her cry alone. i know that molly goes through phases, where sometimes she really has a hard time going to sleep and other times it's easy as pie - so it could just be coincidence. but the important thing is to do whatever works best for your family and know that at some point down the line you'll be able to count on him going to sleep and staying asleep. heck, before you know it he'll be a teenager and you won't be able to wake him up, right?! :) take care!
- jen, zero and molly