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Thursday, January 15, 2009

sleep, glorious sleep

So hopefully writing this post won't jinx anything...

We have recently had several nights in a row of Punkin sleeping through the night. Yes, he's over two. Yes, he should have conquered sleeping through the night a long time ago. Actually, there was a time when he did... it's hard to remember though.

Every time we have had a successful few nights, Punkin would get sick or something and then I just had to go in and hold him. Unfortunately, that caused a pattern and soon Punkin was wanting to be held in the middle of the night every night. I was so tired that I didn't put up much of a fight - I figured we'd both get more sleep if I just picked him up and we fell asleep (thankfully our rocker is also a recliner). I've spent so many nights in that recliner, I don't even want to think about it.

Anyway, I know there are a lot of opinions about whether you should let your child cry himself to sleep. I was one who didn't want him to cry "too much" (whatever that means). Over the last couple of weeks, I was trying to pick him up less and just sit in the chair and tell him to sleep in his crib. I tried laying on the floor outside his room and assuring him from there. Nothing worked and I was exhausted. Anyway, to make a long story short, Friday night, the Hubs and I decided that we were not going to go back into Punkin's room until morning (with certain caveats). I have to admit, when Punkin woke up in the middle of the night, I really, really, really wanted to just go in and help him stop crying and help him get back to sleep. But I didn't. And you know, Punkin cried for a lot less time than I thought he would. The next morning, he was all smiles and hugs. He didn't hate me. He wasn't angry. The next few nights the awakenings were for less time.

And then, yup, he got a little cold and his cough came back (the cough is another long story). So, I wasn't sure how it was going to go. He did wake up a few more times in the middle of the night from coughing, but amazingly, he was only awake for about 5 minutes each time - he didn't work himself into a frenzy like he would have before and he was able to put himself back to sleep, even though he wasn't at 100% health. Amazing.

Last night, he didn't cry out at all from the minute he was put in his crib until this morning. I should probably "knock on wood", but I feel like we're finally getting there... I'm sure something else is right around the corner...

4 comments:

Sheri said...

Isn't that a great feeling, sleeping through the night in your own bed? My sons are older now but we had to do that with our youngest, and it was so hard. But it was like with your child, his crying lasted less and less each night, til finally we were all sleeping. Good job!

punkinmama said...

Thanks Sheri! My very first comment!

It is great sleeping in a comfy bed all night, rather than that recliner! It's best for all of us!

Mikki said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog and entering my contest! I had fun reading over some of your blog entries.
Sounds like you have been going through a lot with your little one - allergies and sleeping. I'm saying some prayers for you and your family now as you seek a good bedtime routine and answers to the health questions.
I went through the crying thing too with my two girls. They are now 15 and 17 and are doing really well even though I made them cry it out a couple nights... LOL!! Your doing the right thing :-)

Anonymous said...

I needed to hear this! My adorable little guy is 2 and a half and he's been waking up at 3:30am...and staying up for hours. :( Last night I changed him, gave him a drink and put him back to bed...he screamed...I tried to talk to him...make him lay down, my husband even came in and tried. NOPE. So, we let him cry. He cried and screamed bloody murder for almost an hour. He finally fell asleep and woke up happy as can be this morning. He even sat in his bed talking and playing for a while before he hollard for me. I'm sure the same will happen tonight...I will keep at it! I know we can get over this. He used to sleep all night just fine til he had the flu around Christmas. It's been a long month!

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