Cry it Out
Today is the day I talk about the negative side of being a new Mommy. Don't get me wrong, I'm still so thankful and blessed to have such a healthy baby boy, but dang, sometimes being a Mom is just not all that fun. I know the saying "you should enjoy every moment because it goes so fast" - well I can say this, I do enjoy most moments but there are other moments that I sure hope go fast, very fast!
Sleep - that is today's topic! I have come to the conclusion that Colton does not like to sleep - period. If you have been following my journey in this blog, you know that Colton has had some rough spells with Baby colic . At first, I blamed his sleeping habits on the colic, but since we are way past that, I know it's not the problem anymore. Every book I have read, every Mom I have spoken to, every piece of advice Colton's pediatrician can give and everything I have tried do not seem to be the solution for Colton. The saying "every child is different" could not be more accurate of a statement.
Routine. Everybody says that routine is the most important thing for a child. I totally agree with that. However, routine does make my baby sleep longer. Ever since Colton turned 2 months old, we have had a daily and a nighttime routine. Colton does really well with his schedule and it seems to work for us (minus nap times...but those are slowly getting less dramatic and a little less painful for all parties involved)! At night, he loves his bath and is (just within the past week or so) eating a full nighttime bottle! After his bottle, I swaddle him, say his bedtime prayer, lay him down and he is sound asleep. Sounds great, right? Wrong. It only lasts for about 3 hours and then some other kid wakes up, and my sweet Colton disappears.
We have tried every - and when I say every, I mean EVERY - combination to help Colton sleep through the night. We have tried swaddled, un-swaddled. We have tried paci and no paci. We have tried sound machine and no sound machine. We have tried cradle, crib and pack-n-play. We have tried night light and no light. We have had him in our room and we have had him on his own. We have given him Tylenol for his teeth and we have done the Teething Tablets. We have done the "let him cry" method and we have tried rocking him back to sleep. So many times I heard, "put some cereal in his bottle and he'll sleep through the night" - well that is a bunch of crap when it comes to my kiddo. He eats solid foods and we give him cereal with a spoon and he still doesn't sleep through the night.
Matt and I decided to try the "crying it out method " and it seems to be working "so-so". We've only done it 3 nights and we have seen a small amount of improvement (even though I still only sleep about 2 hours at a time through the night and feel like a walking zombie through the day)! I'm still not convinced that his teeth aren't a small part of his distress, but the "I need Mommy to pick me up" seems to be the biggest issue we are facing at this point. Since I'm able to stay at home with Colton, he is with me all day and all night. I feel like part of the struggle is separation from Mommy at night. I understand that babies have to teach their minds and bodies to adjust, but I also understand that he is still very young. As we continue to try the "cry it out" method, I am going to make sure we take it slow and address all the issues. Lord knows I have no clue what I'm doing and only have my instincts to guide me.
Last night, after an hour of solid crying at 2 o'clock in the morning, I finally broke down. I started questioning everything I am doing as a Mom. How does anybody really know what to do? I picked Colton up and just rocked him for about an hour. He finally stopped crying and just sat there and looked at me while I "cried it out". It's such a fine line between loving them so much and wanting to fix things for them and letting them self soothe and adjust to changes. Being a Mom is hard and anybody that says otherwise is lying.
Today, I got an email update from EverydayFamily.com about "your baby at week #19". Interested, especially after the night I had last night, I clicked it open to take a look. The first line said "Your baby is growing stronger and is sleeping less". I laughed out loud, literally.
I don't regret being a "stay at home Mom" and I wouldn't trade my baby for anything in the world. I absolutely LOVE being a Mom, but I have to be honest about the whole journey. I have to be honest with myself. Hopefully talking about the good and the bad can help other new Moms out there too. If you're experiencing any of the same things, you're not alone. Just talking about it makes me feel some better. I don't expect anybody to "fix" the situation or feel sorry for me. I know that Colton will eventually find his rhythm and one day I'll look back on this time and laugh. But today, I'm tired.
Sleep - that is today's topic! I have come to the conclusion that Colton does not like to sleep - period. If you have been following my journey in this blog, you know that Colton has had some rough spells with Baby colic . At first, I blamed his sleeping habits on the colic, but since we are way past that, I know it's not the problem anymore. Every book I have read, every Mom I have spoken to, every piece of advice Colton's pediatrician can give and everything I have tried do not seem to be the solution for Colton. The saying "every child is different" could not be more accurate of a statement.
Routine. Everybody says that routine is the most important thing for a child. I totally agree with that. However, routine does make my baby sleep longer. Ever since Colton turned 2 months old, we have had a daily and a nighttime routine. Colton does really well with his schedule and it seems to work for us (minus nap times...but those are slowly getting less dramatic and a little less painful for all parties involved)! At night, he loves his bath and is (just within the past week or so) eating a full nighttime bottle! After his bottle, I swaddle him, say his bedtime prayer, lay him down and he is sound asleep. Sounds great, right? Wrong. It only lasts for about 3 hours and then some other kid wakes up, and my sweet Colton disappears.
We have tried every - and when I say every, I mean EVERY - combination to help Colton sleep through the night. We have tried swaddled, un-swaddled. We have tried paci and no paci. We have tried sound machine and no sound machine. We have tried cradle, crib and pack-n-play. We have tried night light and no light. We have had him in our room and we have had him on his own. We have given him Tylenol for his teeth and we have done the Teething Tablets. We have done the "let him cry" method and we have tried rocking him back to sleep. So many times I heard, "put some cereal in his bottle and he'll sleep through the night" - well that is a bunch of crap when it comes to my kiddo. He eats solid foods and we give him cereal with a spoon and he still doesn't sleep through the night.
Matt and I decided to try the "crying it out method " and it seems to be working "so-so". We've only done it 3 nights and we have seen a small amount of improvement (even though I still only sleep about 2 hours at a time through the night and feel like a walking zombie through the day)! I'm still not convinced that his teeth aren't a small part of his distress, but the "I need Mommy to pick me up" seems to be the biggest issue we are facing at this point. Since I'm able to stay at home with Colton, he is with me all day and all night. I feel like part of the struggle is separation from Mommy at night. I understand that babies have to teach their minds and bodies to adjust, but I also understand that he is still very young. As we continue to try the "cry it out" method, I am going to make sure we take it slow and address all the issues. Lord knows I have no clue what I'm doing and only have my instincts to guide me.
Last night, after an hour of solid crying at 2 o'clock in the morning, I finally broke down. I started questioning everything I am doing as a Mom. How does anybody really know what to do? I picked Colton up and just rocked him for about an hour. He finally stopped crying and just sat there and looked at me while I "cried it out". It's such a fine line between loving them so much and wanting to fix things for them and letting them self soothe and adjust to changes. Being a Mom is hard and anybody that says otherwise is lying.
Today, I got an email update from EverydayFamily.com about "your baby at week #19". Interested, especially after the night I had last night, I clicked it open to take a look. The first line said "Your baby is growing stronger and is sleeping less". I laughed out loud, literally.
I don't regret being a "stay at home Mom" and I wouldn't trade my baby for anything in the world. I absolutely LOVE being a Mom, but I have to be honest about the whole journey. I have to be honest with myself. Hopefully talking about the good and the bad can help other new Moms out there too. If you're experiencing any of the same things, you're not alone. Just talking about it makes me feel some better. I don't expect anybody to "fix" the situation or feel sorry for me. I know that Colton will eventually find his rhythm and one day I'll look back on this time and laugh. But today, I'm tired.
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