I'll use one word to summarize this week: Roseola.
High fevers, followed by a few days of whining and then pop, out came a bright red rash. Poor guy. And all along I thought the fever was due to teething. So I gave in and went to comfort and feed him during the night, just days after he had finally conquered a 7:30pm to 5:30am shift.
And now that the red rash is gone so are his wonderful sleeping habits. Last night, he was completely inconsolable so after 2 hours of crying we gave up on Ferber, turned off the lights and the monitor and just let him cry. I honestly don't know how long it lasted but when he was still asleep at 7:30am this morning I was panicked to make sure he was still breathing. Oh, the wonderful world of cry it out.
The email below was forwarded to me by Riley's mom. This one is great for a chuckle.
Sleep Training For Adults
(From A Baby’s Point Of View)
OK, here’s my situation. My Mommy has had me for almost 7
months. The first few months were great – I cried, she picked me up and fed me,
anytime, day or night. Then something happened.
Over the last few weeks, she has been trying to STTN (sleep
through the night). At first, I thought it was just a phase, but it is only
getting worse. I’ve talked to other babies, and it seems like it’s pretty
common after Mommies have had us for around 6 months. Here’s the thing: these
Mommies don’t really need to sleep. It’s just a habit. Many of them have had
some 30 years to sleep–they just don’t need it anymore. So I am implementing a
plan. I call it the Crybaby Shuffle. It goes like this:
Night 1–cry every 3 hours until you get fed. I know, it’s hard.
It’s hard to see your Mommy upset over your crying. Just keep reminding
yourself, it’s for her own good.
Night 2–cry every 2 hours until you get fed.
Night 3–every hour.
Most Mommies will start to respond more quickly after about 3
nights. Some Mommies are more alert, and may resist the change longer. These
Mommies may stand in your doorway for hours, shhhh-ing. Don’t give in. I cannot
stress this enough: CONSISTENCY IS KEY!! If you let her STTN (sleep through the
night), just once, she will expect it every night. I KNOW IT’S HARD! But she
really doesn’t need the sleep, she’s just resisting the change. If you have an
especially alert Mommy, you can stop crying for about 10 minutes, just
long enough for her to go back to bed and start to fall asleep. Then cry again.
It WILL eventually work. My Mommy once stayed awake for 10 hours straight, so I
know she can do it.
Last night, I cried every hour. You just have to decide to stick
to it and just go for it. BE CONSISTENT! I cried for any reason I could come up
with. My sleep sack tickled my foot. I felt a wrinkle under the sheet. My
mobile made a shadow on the wall. I burped, and it tasted like pears. I hadn’t
eaten pears since lunch, what’s up with that? The cat said “meow”. I should
know. My Mommy reminds me of this about 20 times a day. LOL. Once I cried just
because I liked how it sounded when it echoed on the monitor in the other room.
Too hot, too cold, just right–doesn’t matter! Keep crying!!
It took awhile, but it worked. She fed me at 4am. Tomorrow
night, my goal is 3:30am. You need to slowly shorten the interval between
feedings in order to reset your Mommies’ internal clocks.
Sometimes my Mommy will call for reinforcements by sending in
Daddy. Don’t worry Daddies are not set up for not needing sleep the way Mommies
are. They can only handle a few pats and shhing before they declare defeat and
send in the Mommy.
Also, be wary of the sleep sheep with rain noises. I like to
give Mommy false hope that listening to the rain puts me to sleep sometimes I
pretend to close my eyes and be asleep and then wait until I know Mommy is
settling back to sleep to spring a surprise cry attack. If she doesn’t get to
me fast enough I follow up with my fake cough and gag noise that always has her
running to the crib. At some point I am positive she will start to realize that
she really doesn’t really need sleep.
P.S. Don’t let those rubber
things fool you, no matter how long you suck on them, no milk will come out.
Trust me.
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