CIO

I just have to preface this post; I’ve never really been on the cry it out band wagon. At about a year, we sang to Mali, said good night and put her in her crib and left her. It felt like the right time for us, and it worked. I’ve rocked both my babies for naps and nursed them to sleep at night. There are a few repercussions but its been worth it to me. I wouldn’t take it back. Almost all of my good friends do this with their babies, at young ages, nearly from the beginning, and have knowingly adviced me to do the same. I just couldn’t do it. I didn’t understand how when all that my baby wanted was momma, how I could not give that to her. (This is an area where I have my own issues too.) Babywise states that you should put your baby to bed awake from the get go, which we have done to some degree, but it gets easier to just rock them or nurse them to sleep the older they get, but then we hit the point where Eleri needed that constantly. The past month, Eleri has been getting up any where from every 30 minutes to 1 hour during the night. I had no stamina! And, honestly, it wasn’t just about me. When I did respond to Eleri’s cries and hold her or nurse her, she would toss and turn in my arms desperately trying to get comfortable to no avail. I knew that it was time to do this and that it would be in the best interest of everyone. It was just hard to get up the nerve. I kept hoping that things would just click with her, but days and nights kept passing. I hoped that our pediatrician would find a double ear infection at Eleri’s 9 month check up. Instead, Eleri was in perfect health and our pediatrician advised me to not respond to her cries in the middle of the night…to not even go in to her room and pat her, etc. (our Pediatrician has been telling me not to feed Eleri in the night since she was 8 weeks old…and here we are 7 months later and I was still nursing her some of the time just in hopes of everyone going back to sleep.) So, on Monday after her 9 month check up, it was time. Eric and Mali bedded down in our bedroom so that Mali wouldn’t be awakened by Eleri’s screams. Sure enough, Eleri woke up and screamed for ONE HOUR! I had really hoped it would only be 20 minutes, but it was an hour. Night #2, Eleri got up twice. The first time she cried for 11 minutes and the next time she cried off and on for 25 minutes. I had borrowed a video monitor and was able to watch her. She would stand up and cry, and then sit down or lie down for a few minutes, and then stand up and cry again. Night #3, she got up ONCE and cried for 6 minutes!!!!! Last night she got up once and cried for one minute and went back to sleep. I am so relieved and am so thankful that we really did make the best decision for all of us. Our nights are still somewhat sleepless, but better. For the most part, Eleri has gotten up about once a night when she needs to cry. I ‘dream feed’ her about 2-3 hours after I’ve put her to bed if she wakes up, and then I nurse her if she wakes up at 5.