Well, I mentioned in the last post that I thought we might try to work on bedtime. Abigail had become accustomed to going to bed for somewhere between 1-3 hours and then waking up and refusing to go back to sleep in her own bed. Which meant she came and slept with mommy and daddy. While there were days this worked just fine it was becoming more the norm that it was not. Abby commanded more space in the bed than Matt and I had and we were getting uncomfortable.
So, I bit the bullet. I am not a fan of the cry it out method but many, many people have been encouraging me to do so. So I figured we would at least give it a try. Here's how I thought it would go....put abby to bed and she wakes up and screams screams screams, check on her and repeat ALL NIGHT. I had no hope that this would work or that I would be able to handle the screaming. Well, somehow it WORKED!!!
The first two nights were rough. She woke up every 2 hours and had a crying fest. The first night there was a stint that went on for over an hour, of course we were checking on her every few minutes. By night 3 it was down to she would wake up and cry for a minute or two and go back to sleep. We wouldn't have even made it to her room yet and she would be back asleep.
Last night was the icing on the cake. I sat with her, rocked her, we listened to her favorite pink floyd music and she was pretty much asleep. I laid her down and of course she woke up and sat straight up, looked at me and didn't make a sound. I told her good night, kissed her and said I love you and she laid down and went to sleep. There were no tears at all. THEN, as if it could get any better!?!? This morning (and this has happened two mornings in a row) she has woken up and just stayed content in her crib until we come and and get her.
I know this won't last forever but I am celebrating one day at a time! Last night I told Matt we were going to have to relearn what to do with our evenings! Since with this change I also have instituted a firm 8:30 bedtime. Before this we would let her stay up until 9:30 so that hopefully she would be more tired and stay asleep longer.....yes, I know, not the right logic.
Along with that celebration I am also celebrating the end of the breastfeeding year! On many of the mommy sites I read they award you silver, bronze, and "golden boobies" depending on how long you make it. I earned my golden ones for sure. Breastfeeding was probably the most difficult thing we faced during this first year. Abby didn't have a good latch and with me going back to work it was too hard for her to get adjusted to both so we eventually went to just bottles which meant I got to pump.....A LOT. There were many, many times when I was ready to give it up but I can be pretty tough when it comes to a challenge. So, we pulled through but let me tell you I was thrilled to slowly end that process and I am ready to pack it all away.....until next time. Though we will hope next time goes a little better!
So what is my reward for my golden boobies you ask?!!? Great question! My reward was being able to take some Nyquil the past 2 nights to help with this crappy cold I got from my daughter. I am also rewarding myself with a hair treatment next week that has lots of fun chemicals so breastfeeding would not really the best thing to be doing.
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