Sleep Monster
Colin is hopelessly spoiled.
There. I've said it. My son is 13 months old and is spoiled beyond words.
He stays up too late at night, and once asleep typically ends up in bed with us.
Except take out "typically" and replace it with "always."
He gets away with it because he's cute, he's very VERY snuggly, he's extremely affectionate, and his parents are new to the game and are giant pushovers.
I've attempted the "let him cry it out" method, but every time I put him in his crib to let him cry it out he sobbed until he vomited. Every. Single. Time.
I can sometimes put him down in his crib, IF he's deeply asleep, but it usually lasts until 2-3AM at which point Colin will wake up sobbing until we move him into bed with us.
But this weekend we hit a breaking point.
Our "little" guy somehow grew - it seems like it was overnight. (I swear that he just learned to roll over last week. Truly!) I don't know how it happened, but suddenly it wasn't a teeny baby snuggling with us anymore. It was a rather long, lanky little boy who decided to lay horizontally between us. Taking up most of the room on the bed. Laying lengthwise across my pillow. Flopping around like a fish and crowding his poor father further and further toward the edge of the bed until the man nearly went and slept on the sofa!
So last night we developed new ground rules. (You can start laughing now.) I suggested that once Colin falls asleep he needs to be in his crib. Period. If he wakes up we'll alternate getting up, but the protocol is now "get up, soothe the baby back to sleep, the put him back in his crib" - no coming into bed with us.
Our first night under the new regime went something like this:
Colin fought sleep valiantly until about 9:30 when he reluctantly drifted off to the Land of Nod. I held him for another half hour, then put him in his crib. H and I folded laundry and got ready for bed while the little prince dozed, then when I was almost ready to get into bed he woke up. I tried just rubbing his back, but he kept getting more and more worked up so I picked him up, rocking him until he fell back asleep.
He stayed asleep until 4AM then woke up with (no joking) a squeal of indignation, as if he couldn't believe he was in his (gasp) crib. I got out of bed, picked him up, and tried to soothe him back to sleep but he wasn't buying it. I tried gently stroking his hair and back, rocking him back and forth but he was not taking the bait. He utterly and categorically refused to go back to sleep. I then thought I would just lay down briefly until he dozed off, then put him back in his crib. Which was not quite as effective as one might hope.
After I lay down Colin put his head on my shoulder, wrapped his arms around my neck, nestled his right hand in the hair at the nape of my neck, and relaxed. I was sure he was going to drop right off to sleep and was prepared to just wait a few minutes then deposit him back in his crib. Colin had other plans. After just a few minutes he woke himself up, picked his head up and looked at me, then sighed and put his head back down, grabbing my hair just a wee bit more tightly (not pulling - just making sure he had a solid hold on me... no escaping!). A few minutes later I was listening to his breathing in the hopes that it would steady into a deep calm rhythm. Instead he picked his head back up, crawled over and wrapped his entire body around H's head giving him a whole-body-hug for about 10 seconds. Then he came back over to me and flopped back down.
I tried sitting up on the edge of the bed with him but he began to whimper and cling to me even tighter.
At this point it was after 4:30AM, I was exhausted (with a bad head cold), and I am ashamed to say that I gave up and gave in. I just had to get another hour of sleep. I had to, or I wasn't going to be able to function at work. So I rationalized that my efforts were better than previous nights, since he stayed in his crib until 4AM, and I went back to sleep with my little guy snuggled comfortably in my arms.
We'll try again tonight. But when you combine a kid manipulating the cute-and-cuddly card, a sleep-deprived mom, and a daddy who talks tough but is a giant marshmallow when it comes to follow-through... well... let's just say that I'm not setting my hopes too high. But we'll give it a whirl and see what happens. Maybe the sleep monster will give me until 4:02AM tonight. WOO HOO!
I've decided to celebrate the little victories, even though I'm very aware that this battle is already lost.
There. I've said it. My son is 13 months old and is spoiled beyond words.
He stays up too late at night, and once asleep typically ends up in bed with us.
Except take out "typically" and replace it with "always."
He gets away with it because he's cute, he's very VERY snuggly, he's extremely affectionate, and his parents are new to the game and are giant pushovers.
I've attempted the "let him cry it out" method, but every time I put him in his crib to let him cry it out he sobbed until he vomited. Every. Single. Time.
I can sometimes put him down in his crib, IF he's deeply asleep, but it usually lasts until 2-3AM at which point Colin will wake up sobbing until we move him into bed with us.
But this weekend we hit a breaking point.
Our "little" guy somehow grew - it seems like it was overnight. (I swear that he just learned to roll over last week. Truly!) I don't know how it happened, but suddenly it wasn't a teeny baby snuggling with us anymore. It was a rather long, lanky little boy who decided to lay horizontally between us. Taking up most of the room on the bed. Laying lengthwise across my pillow. Flopping around like a fish and crowding his poor father further and further toward the edge of the bed until the man nearly went and slept on the sofa!
So last night we developed new ground rules. (You can start laughing now.) I suggested that once Colin falls asleep he needs to be in his crib. Period. If he wakes up we'll alternate getting up, but the protocol is now "get up, soothe the baby back to sleep, the put him back in his crib" - no coming into bed with us.
Our first night under the new regime went something like this:
Colin fought sleep valiantly until about 9:30 when he reluctantly drifted off to the Land of Nod. I held him for another half hour, then put him in his crib. H and I folded laundry and got ready for bed while the little prince dozed, then when I was almost ready to get into bed he woke up. I tried just rubbing his back, but he kept getting more and more worked up so I picked him up, rocking him until he fell back asleep.
After I lay down Colin put his head on my shoulder, wrapped his arms around my neck, nestled his right hand in the hair at the nape of my neck, and relaxed. I was sure he was going to drop right off to sleep and was prepared to just wait a few minutes then deposit him back in his crib. Colin had other plans. After just a few minutes he woke himself up, picked his head up and looked at me, then sighed and put his head back down, grabbing my hair just a wee bit more tightly (not pulling - just making sure he had a solid hold on me... no escaping!). A few minutes later I was listening to his breathing in the hopes that it would steady into a deep calm rhythm. Instead he picked his head back up, crawled over and wrapped his entire body around H's head giving him a whole-body-hug for about 10 seconds. Then he came back over to me and flopped back down.
I tried sitting up on the edge of the bed with him but he began to whimper and cling to me even tighter.
At this point it was after 4:30AM, I was exhausted (with a bad head cold), and I am ashamed to say that I gave up and gave in. I just had to get another hour of sleep. I had to, or I wasn't going to be able to function at work. So I rationalized that my efforts were better than previous nights, since he stayed in his crib until 4AM, and I went back to sleep with my little guy snuggled comfortably in my arms.
We'll try again tonight. But when you combine a kid manipulating the cute-and-cuddly card, a sleep-deprived mom, and a daddy who talks tough but is a giant marshmallow when it comes to follow-through... well... let's just say that I'm not setting my hopes too high. But we'll give it a whirl and see what happens. Maybe the sleep monster will give me until 4:02AM tonight. WOO HOO!
I've decided to celebrate the little victories, even though I'm very aware that this battle is already lost.
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