Well, last night was her first night in the crib. It pretty much sucked. At 8, I read her a story, changed her diaper, and put a wearable blanket on her, then put her in the crib and scooted the rocking chair next to it.
At first, she thought it was a new game, but after I told her "night-night" several times and didn't pick her up at her initial fusses, she got MAD. She screamed and screamed.
I took a break at 9 to go brush my teeth & stuff, then came back. Eventually I lay down on the bed in there and just let her scream at me. It was heartbreaking. She was so tired that she went from standing to kneeling to finally sitting, arms limp at her sides, tears and drool pouring down her face. She was giving me this look of abject misery, saying "You have betrayed me, Mama."
At ten, Sweetie came in and was like "Why don't you turn off the light?" He did, and then she screamed into the darkness for another half an hour. Finally, after 2 1/2 hours had passed, she stopped screaming and fell asleep.
At 1:30, she woke up. I changed her diaper and fed her, then put her back in the crib. She had seemed quite drowsy, but the screaming recommenced. At 3, Sweetie came and said "I don't think your being here is doing any good. Come to bed." So I did. She screamed for another half an hour, then fell asleep anf stayed asleep until 7:30.
All together, she cried for almost 4 hours and slept for only 7. It's supposed to get better on the second night...
I wanted to do this Sleep Lady thing, where I'm there to comfort her, because it seemed kinder than the Ferber method of just letting her cry it out alone, but I'm not sure how well it worked. In a way, I think she was thinking "there's my mom RIGHT THERE and I know if I'm crying, she picks me up. What the hell is going on?"
Ultimately I guess the success is that she DID spend the whole night in her crib and I didn't give in and let her sleep in the bed.
3 comments:
It amazes me how tough that babies are. 4 hours of screaming, which is pretty aerobic exercise. Wow.
Good on you. It is so hard, when they cry, but I am firmly in the camp of separate sleeping when they are a little older so everyone gets a peaceful night. Not that my kids have ever been perfect sleepers - I got the good eaters instead - but the tough times will pass. My boys LOVE their cots (cribs) and will sometimes ask, "cot? cot?" when they are tired. (Mind you, sometimes they also cry, but they are kids. They don't know what's good for them).
I am sure it will get better, and it sounds like Sweetie is doing all the right things to support you both through it.
What we do for our bedtime routine - we read the last story with just a lamp on, then we turn off the lamp once the boys are in bed. It's part of the ritual.
I know it will get better, so hang in there, and what can I say the kid got your lungs, she can scream with the best of them.
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