Letting my babies cry was never my strong point. When you have your first baby you read every thing you can get your hands on – this will make an expectant mom CRAZY! There are about a million different theories on everything from feedings to where your baby should sleep. When I was pregnant with Luke I thought that letting your baby cry themselves to sleep was a good idea. I understood in my head how beneficial that would be to him in the long run – what I didn’t know was how hard it would be for me to listen to. So when Luke came along and cried – I held him, every time! This was fine for a while when he was very small… but soon grew old when he hit about 8 or 9 months and started waking up in the night. If he would have just gone right back to sleep, that would have been fine too, but he took to staying up for 2 or 3 hours at a time. NOT COOL! I think we’ve finally worked thru that he is after all 3 years old! Not to say that he doesn’t still wake up in the night, cause sometimes he does, and he has been know to be up for hours on end, but now I check on him to be sure he’s ok and I go back to bed. Good for me right?!?!
Baby number two – Avery – I told David when she was born; we’re letting this baby cry! Nope, didn’t happen. I didn’t like hearing her cry any more than I did Luke. When Av woke in the night she would take a bottle and go right back to sleep with no crying until recently. So with the help of my wonderful (and more determined) husband we are letting Avery cry it out! Not to fun for any of us, but I do know that in the long run, it’ll be better. The first day we let her cry she cried for about an hour and 45 minutes. Since then she’s worked her way from an hour to thirty minutes to about 20 minutes today. We figure after about a week, she’ll be putting herself to sleep with little or no crying at all! That’ll be so nice! Thanks to Shannon also for the encouragement of the let them cry it out theory! I see how nicely it works for her and Julianna – boy do I want that too!
I’m also trying to do this to help out Nanny and Grandpoppy! Luke and Avery will get to spend a week with them in GA, and I know it would be a LOT more helpful to Nanny when putting both of them to bed, if Avery could put herself to sleep! Hopefully by the beginning of July she will have this skill mastered!
Next thing to work on… not crying when she’s not being held during the day so Mommy can get things done without going crazy! Anybody have any suggestions?!?!?!
5 comments:
Keep up the good work Holly. I know my heart melts anytime I hear Reagan cry so I'm sure listening to Avery has been hard for you. Before long both of your kids will sleep through the night and maybe you will too! We love you guys and can't wait to get the cousins together.
Love,
Aunt Amy
You are a FANTASTIC mommy!!!! It IS very difficult to let a baby cry, but you're right--it makes it easier in the long run. The really cool thing about Luke waking during the night & staying awake is that you have taught him to remain quiet (unless there's something wrong, of course!), and he'll stay in his room & play quietly in the middle of the night!!!
I really appreciate the effort you're making to get Avery to be able to "settle" herself. I'm looking forward to "Nanny Camp" the end of this month!!!!! It's been a REALLY long time since I've had a 3 year old & a 7 month old in my keeping for any length of time. LOL
To quote a sweatshirt I have..."TWINKLE, TWINKLE LITTLE STAR, MY GRANDKIDS ARE THE BEST, BY FAR!"
Love you all!
Your mom is so right Holly! You are a wonderful momma! You are so patient and gentle with your children. Something I really need to work on.
I know what you're feeling right now and it is hard. I think as a mother our hearts break every time we hear our babies cry. Just remember when it gets diffucult that next year with be so much easier (er...different at least). And rememeber about our conversations about the lasts...This is the last time you will have to do this...
Stay strong! You can do it! I promise that in 15 years when she is slamming the door in your face and yelling "You just dont understand me mom!" that it wont be because you let her cry it out when she was 7 months old. Hee hee!
Thanks for being such a great friend. You are the calming factor in our friendship trio. Love you girl!
Shannon
Thanks ya'll!!
Good for you! It's a hard row to plow I know, we went through it with the first three! But Eva....well, Mommy tends to be a bit soft since the breathing episode, so Eva is still waking to nurse in the night, but we're hoping to crack down on that once the transition to the new house has been made!
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