crying it out {night 1}

Ok, so I never really had a problem with rocking my babies and letting them sleep in our bed when they woke in the middle of the night.  I guess with my older age(ahem almost 29) I feel extra exhausted with Jackson's unpredictable sleeping schedule.

Lately we have been rocking and putting him down between 7 and 8. He was sleeping until midnight or 2am, we would give him a bottle and he would go right back to sleep with us, in our bed(I know it's dangerous). As a working mother that gave me the sleep I needed to function, and to be honest I didn't mind it at all.

But things have changed!

He has been waking up about an hour after we put him down. He is waking up at midnight and 4 a.m. and wanting to stay awake. He's just not getting the sleep we think he needs and neither are we.

I told Brent Friday night that now is the time to do this, since I am out for summer break. So we went for it.

It was a killer.

Night 1:

I still rocked him and put him down at 7:15. He woke up at 8. I went in his room and rubbed his back and shushed him for about a minute and left him in his bed. This only infuriated him. Poor little guy. He screamed for another ten-ish minutes and I went in again to soothe him, and again he calmed down while I rubbed his back, but started screaming again when I left him.

We followed this pattern and at 9:15 while Brent was taking his turn soothing, Jackson finally gave up and fell asleep.

I don't understand how he had the energy to cry for that long, but all in all it went better and quicker than I expected.

I hate the soothing part because it only seems to upset him more, but I understand the need for it. I want him to understand that we are still around and that he hasn't been abandoned.

He woke up crying at 1:30, so I let him cry for a little while and then went in to soothe him. I left the room and looked at the clock and told myself I would go back in at 1:45 if he was still up. I fell asleep and woke up at 3:00 and all was silent.

I had turned the monitor off, but we can still hear him cry. I thought I wouldn't be able to fall asleep while he was crying but I must have been too exhausted.

Jackson woke up crying again at 4:00. This time was a little harder on him. He has been waking up at 4am lately ready to be up and playing, acting like it's morning time.

Brent went in and soothed him this time. I must have passed out again around 5 because I woke up at 6:30 when Brent's alarm went off, and again all was quiet.

Jackson woke up at 7:30 and I couldn't wait to go in and get him up. He was so happy to see me. He didn't act like he hated me or anything.

So all in all our first night was not bad. I was pleasantly surprised.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post about night 2 & 3!!