Friday, April 3, 2009

Night Three

Last night W put the kids to bed. He did the routine and put T in bed and T immediately rolled over and went to sleep. Yay!

However, it was not to last, about 2 a.m. He woke up and cried for about an hour--I sat by his bed so he knew I was there, but I am not sure if that aggravated the problem. What do you do during the night if your kids wake up?

W checked on him when he woke up this morning and T was sitting cheerfully in his bed flipping through a book that was in his bed. Needless to say I feel exhausted. We had a repair guy and the landlord drop in unannounced (they didn't call in advance). The house looks like I have 20 kids and I forgot to tell him about everything that needs to be fixed. But overall things are going well.

If he wakes up in the middle of the night next time I think I will just cuddle him and get him a snack or a drink (like W does). Please give me your ideas. ;)

4 comments:

M said...

Well, you read our evil baby post from a little while ago, so obviously we aren't exactly experts in the realm of what-to-do. I do feel lucky that Thomas will usually sleep through Sethie crying because my instinct is just to leave him in there. If the crying gets really frantic, I have given him another binky, or a baby bottle filled with water, or something like that to just suck on and usually that works. But picking him up and touching him are pretty much no-no's and seem to make the crying worse. I think you did a decent thing being in there in the chair but not getting him up, though I'm sure that was just exhausting for you!

So my philosophy: let them cry if you can. If it's totally frantic and/or it's keeping the other kids up, maybe give him something to entertain or soothe him and see if that helps. Otherwise, hopefully he grows out of it soon! Good luck my friend!

vdg family said...

Thanks Mara! I really liked your post--it made me laugh the entire time!

Joe and Kristin Family said...

Oh Melanie, I feel your pain! Jenna wouldn't sleep through the night until she was almost 2--and I was about to go nuts! I read a book called "Good Night, Sleep Tight," and it really helped with Jenna. There are sections in the book for different age groups, and how to help your child learn to comfort himself, go back to sleep, etc. Unfortunately, I lent the book to Mindy, so I can't look up what to do for a 1-year-old. Basically, the approach includes bedtime routine (which it sounds like you are already doing) and then gradually teaching them to go to sleep on their own by slowly moving out of their room while they are awake (ex: day 1 you sit in a chair next to the crib; day 3you sit a foot or two away; day 5 you're half-way across the room; by day 12-14 your outside their room. There's more to it, but I can't remember all the little tricks and helpful ideas--sorry!) It takes about 2 weeks, but it wasn't so heartwrenching as letting them cry.
Jacob is more mellow than Jenna, so we just did the bedtime routine and put him in bed with his special blanket and toy. Then if he woke up, we let him cry. The first night, he cried about 45 minutes. The next night, he cried about 30 min., but by the third night, he went to sleep and stayed asleep.
Good luck! I'm sure you'll get it figured out.

Mary C. said...

OH! These nights are SO hard on parents! Doug is so good and just lies down on the floor next to their bed, that usually does the trick.