Monday, April 30, 2007

Something new

As I've written several times, Carson has always been a dream going to bed. Last night he started to cry about ten minutes after we put him down, we tried to soothe him but it was so not like him, that we assumed something was wrong and we picked him up and calmed him down, then put him to sleep. It probably took in total about 20 minutes, when usually we put him down, walk out of the room and that's it. Now, I know that 20 minutes may not seem like a lot to some of you, but to us it seems like forever.

I just put him down about 20 minutes ago (he was up on both elbows when I left the room) and he just started to cry. So Jeff and I decided we are going to wait about 5 minutes before going up to see what's wrong. In order for me to do this and not start to cry myself, I had to turn off the monitor and turn the TV up. So, we are watching the game and in 2 minutes I can turn the monitor back on. We've done this a few times in the past couple months and we always cave before our time is up. Let's see if we can do it this time.

Update #1: I turned the monitor on 1 minute early and it was quiet :)
Update #2: He started crying again, Jeff went to pat his bum, he's once again quiet.
Update #3: 5 minutes later and he's crying again. We are going to try and wait 5 minutes again
Update #4: We didn't last, Jeff had to pick him this time (he was screaming) and soothe him to sleep. 4 minutes later, he's in his crib and asleep.

So I picked up the book that had been on my shelf for a few weeks (because I haven't needed it) Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child and it says "The failure of children to fall asleep and stay asleep by themselves is the direct result of parents' failure to give their child the opportunity to learn these self-soothing skills". This is for babies 5-12 months.

If it keeps up, we'll know he's getting into a pattern and we'll deal with it. For now, it's only been two nights so I'm leaning towards him maybe not feeling well or perhaps has something coming on?

Any thoughts?

3 comments:

Alea said...

Thoughts? Umm... Nah sorry, not from me, I'm absolutely clueless when it comes to babies. :)

Just wanted to thank you for the comment you left me and for making me feel like I can actually change things for the better in the next 4 months! I was quite ready to give up already...

CrYs said...

Hi.. We're doing the same thing right now. It's hard to wait the five minutes, but that's what we've been doing too. The first night, he cried for 90 minutes. After a week, we're down to MAYBE ten minutes, sometimes 5, and one night, none at all.

Patience is key. That's all I've got.

Christy said...

Alea - no problem. I have to do the same so if I can do it, you can do it too! Let's not give up, OK?

Crys - wow. Wow. That's all I can say. I've heard of it happening to people. And it scares me. Esp. cause Alex has been a good sleeper till now. Well good for you for letting him figure it out himself. Good luck, even though I've only had a little bit of this, I know already it's not fun.