SLEEP TRAINING THE BOY!

Now that I think about it, Oli's gone through a whole slew of different sleep routines; we have really tried everything.  At first, I wouldn't have dreampt of him sleeping in our bed-- he was so tiny!  He refused to sleep on his back and when he was able it was always a horrible restless sleep ending in choking, gagging, and then crying, on his spit-up.  So he slept in his glider, then after the one month checkup when the pediatrician suggested it, he started sleeping in his carseat in the cosleeper.  Eventually, he started sleeping after nursing in the side-lying position, sleeping in bed with Phil and me.  I discovered that at...  oh he must've been maybe...  14 lbs?-- there was no way I could roll over on him, besides his head was on my arm, right by my face.  I couldn't like...  forget about him, and rolling on him would be as silly as the prospect of rolling over a bowling ball.  How?  It's huge!  So we had a family bed for a while.

I loved the family bed, and so did Oliver, and Phil seemed to really like it too!  I am pleased that my husband likes when our son sleeps with us, and that Phil's not possesive of me or his bed or anything, and likes the little guy being a part of every aspect of our life including sleep.  Sleeping with Oliver was sooo sweet.  But there are 2 problems with having a family bed:

1. I found that if I slept with Oli at night he also wanted me to sleep with him in the daytime.  For a baby who naps every 2hrs, that made it impossible for me to get anything done.  I couldn't go anywhere, I'd start to cook or clean and I just couldn't because when Oli was up he needed entertainment, nursing, or changing, and when he was asleep, he wanted to be in my arms on the bed.  Welll that makes me a very useless housewife and wife in general.
2. The final straw was when I got sick.  With a family bed, the baby doesn't learn to sleep on his own-- he has to sleep with you, and he doesn't understand if you go away one night that you're sick.  He'll just scream and cry because you're completely screwing up his routine.  Not fair to the baby, and it's not gonna make you feel any better either since you're already sick and now you're sick with a screaming baby?  

Well Oliver, it seams, is afraid of the sound of nose-blowing, sneezing, and coughing.  He was 3m and 2 weeks old when I decided, screw it, I don't mind giving up my daytime and nights to sleep with my baby.  I don't mind getting nothing done during the day if it makes oliver happy for me to devote every waking AND sleeping minute to him.  BUT there is just no point if I'm gonna get sick and need to leave the bed and screw him up anyway.  he's eventually gonna have to learn to fall asleep on his own.  I called Amy Simon and she said she trained her kids at 2 or 3 months (Oli wasn't ready at 2 I'm sure) and she had a much easier time training them than her friends had with their kids who waited till 6 months.  I'd rather oli cry now for 2 weeks, say, than later cry for 4 weeks.  4's worse than 2 no matter when it happens.  

That did it.  Between the me-getting-sick-and-screwing-up-oli's-sleep-anyway thing and the "it'll be worse later if you wait" thing, I decided to start the training NOW.  Apparently I did it right because according to Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Baby, 3m is when they start "getting" the bedtime routine.  It's when they start noticing it and understanding it.  

I began my routine this week.  It took 40 mins the first and 2nd day.  Today I think I only spent a half hour maybe.  Our routine is this:

1. Read books, as many as he'll tolerate--  2-3 usually.
2. Dance holding him, to soft music, one or 2 songs (cut not entire songs)
3. Pray the rosary.  The first night I said a whole rosary-- 3 decades holding him, 2 with him in the carseat.  Last night I only said 2 decades holding him, and the rest in the carseat.  Tonight I made one decade holding him and a couple more in the carseat.

The first night, Oli cried for 45 mins.  He'd catnap on and off, but basically cry.  Then he'd wake up like every 3 hrs after that...  but he'd go back down into his carseat without argument which surprised/relieved me.  

The 2nd night (last night) Oli cried for only 20 mins (THANK GOD) and he slept an hour later in his first increment, and 3 hrs later in his 2nd, and then chilled with me in our bed until like 11:30 so I could rest! (I'd had insomnia)

Tonight I put him down when he was tired at 11 and he cried for seriously less than 5 mins!  Oh Halelluia praise to Jesus!  I don't know how long he'll sleep but in general he seemed MUCH happier tonight going down and cried less and eeeverything.  I wonder if there'll come a time when he won't cry at all?

My only fear now is that I'll have to start all over again when he transfers from sleeping in his carseat in the crib, to just in the crib on his back.  Yuck.

3 MONTH MILESTONES that I haven't had time to post yet but am doing now...

2 days after his 3m birthday, Oli flipped over (!!!).  Aaaaand I missed it.  I was in the shower, came back, and there he was in his crib, under his mobile, on his tummy and looking around like a turtle who'd been flipped like "now how did I get here and how am i gonna get out of this??"  It was sooo cute.  2 days after his 3m b-day he also started becoming interested in sitting facing outward, looking around, and reading books!  That makes me VERY happy because I enjoy reading books with him.  A lady saw us at Buca on New Years and she asked me if I was a teacher and I said "Yes how'd you guess?" and she said that she used to teach and has noticed that teachers all talk to their infants like they're already 12 years old!  Haha she said that our kids have good verbal skills.  I'd been showing Oli the statues at Buca and explaining them to him.  It was fun.  Anyway tangent complete...

3 days ago Oliver found his thumb.  He doesn't always suck his thumb; usually it's a few fingers.  But he found his thumb and it makes him very happy.  He's teething hardcore now; his smile's shape has changed and you can see the teeth comin in under the gums.  Some days are worse than others but it's not as bad as it was at 2.5m when he started teething.  Maybe the pain is just as bad but now that sleep habits are better and stuff it's better?  Who knows.  Anyway so the teething sux but his smile's really cute with teeth under his gums!

PUT ON A HAPPY FACE

It is so much easier being a mommy now that Oliver's smiling!  Things that make him smile are usually standing him on my thighs and slowly pulling him toward my face and hten pushign him back up...  and of course tickling him from tummy to chest.  Sometimes funny faces make him smile but often they scare him so I don't make them to make him smile.  He likes noises though.  Percussive noises.  When he cries while getting strapped into his carseat, clicking my tongue and snapping my fingers and clapping work wonders and sometimes he'll just dead-stop crying and look at me in happy wonderment!  In the car, I've learned another trick.  I sit in the back seat with him (when phil's driving) and let him wrap his hand around my finger (so cute!) and I make all the consonant sounds of the alphabet without using my voice-- just the sheer consonants.  He really likes that!  We're learning to make him happy!  Even Phil's mom is getting so much better and appeasing him!  She walks around now, is more pro-active when he cries...  it's a relief since I'm working now and I don't have to worry that he'll scream the whole time I'm gone.  She's good with him now.  Yea!

Ok it's 12:15a.m. and my eyes are drooping and I'm exhausted.  Totally goin to sleep.  Like Oliver. :)