My son Nathan is 13 months old. From the day he was born until now he has never slept for a whole night. This can be exhausting to say the least. I thought I would take the time to share a few things I have tried.
For 10 months I was a stay-at home mom, so at first his not sleeping at night didn't get to me. Now, I'm back at work and to be honest, I'm tired. It’s a lot harder to let him cry when I'm sleepy too. It’s much easier to pick him up. I hardly ever get a whole straight 8 hours of sleep. On the few nights my mom and step-dad watch him I sleep all night and most of the day.
Even now as I write this blog I have had to stop 3 times for him. Some nights aren't so bad. He will wake up 3 or 4 times for a bottle and twice more for a change (he is always wet). Other nights, every time I put him down he pops up like weed. Tonight he's a weed.
This problem had three parts but I solved two of the parts. Part one getting him to not sleep with me. Part two getting him on a sleeping schedule and part three getting him to stay asleep all night. In the beginning he slept with me every night for two reasons. 1) I lived at my mom’s for 3 months for help and 2) I was nursing. I nursed him until 8 months but I had to stop due to health reasons.
Now, how did I stop him from sleeping in my bed? That was a hard one at first. He slept with me for 6 month but I realized he was a bad sleeper (aren’t all babies), and I'm single now but one day I would have a husband so it was time for him to go. First I bought him a bigger comfortable crib not that old bassinet. Second I asked my doctor and mother what to do. The nurses gave me reading material and mom said you’re going to have to let him cry. I didn't know then what she meant but I found out quickly.
So I read the material and it said create a bedtime schedule so I did. Every night I read him a book, feed him dinner give him a bath and at 9pm he is in the crib. In the crib, but crying, just like mom said. The article also said after bath time I should stop talking, turn off all the lights and let him cry some. The article never said how long to let him cry. “Some” for me was up to 30 minutes. But it worked. After about two week he was sleeping in his own bed. Thank goodness! I'm not going to tell you these two weeks was easy. I felt like I was in a ‘who is more stubborn’ contest. At first he would win because I didn't like hearing him cry. After about day four, I just started pacing the halls until he stopped crying. And now he is asleep every night at 9pm in his own bed.
What I haven’t said is my son has been dealing with some ear infections as well. So initially, the doctors led me to believe that his not sleeping was because of all the ear infections. So the doctors prescribed Benadryl after he had tubes put in (for the pain), but it didn’t even help with the sleeping, only the pain. My son is no longer in daycare I will post about why one day soon. My step dad G-Pa watches him and G-Pa has been keeping a nap log for 3 weeks. Starting tomorrow we will be cutting his nap time in half to see if that works.
Now What??
Now how do I keep him asleep all night is my question to the world? It's research time. I'll share what I learn. If you have any idea of something I can try please comment and share with me and the rest of the blog family. I will keep you updated.
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