Oh my sweet Connor is trying my patience lately...really trying my patience. He has been waking up during the night a lot for the last few months. Mind you, he used to sleep through the night nearly every night for at least 12 hours since he was two months old.
Anyway, when the night awakenings started they really were not too bad. I found that if I just gave him a sippy cup of milk he would go back to bed and do pretty well for the rest of the night. Soon he started waking up more and throwing his cup of milk out of his bed and then screaming for me or Marcus to come back in and give it to him (he has a toddler bed, by the way, which he can very easily get in and out of himself). This became one annoying game that soon escalated to happening up to six times a night. SO IRRITATING! Also, because Connor was having so much to drink throughout the night started wetting his bed nearly every night. ALSO, I know that I am not supposed to be letting him have milk (especially chocolate milk) to fall asleep as it causes "baby bottle rot" in their little teeth.
Point of this post: I decided to take my mommy power back and stop feeding into his ridiculous night manipulation routine. Starting Sunday night Connor got put to bed with a small sippy cup of water and was not indulged in the middle of the night with milk or mine and Marcus' attention (getting the cup he purposely threw and can easily get himself). When he first wakes up crying I go in and give him a love and make sure he's ok. After that he's on his own. Sunday night was horrible...he was up several times SCREAMING and throwing temper-tantrums. Last night was better (but still not ideal). He woke up once at 4am for a two-hour fit. Hopefully tonight will be better.
Aren't you glad you're not my downstairs neighbor right now?
9 comments:
have you read babywise? you should just let him scream and not even go in at all to calm him down. I guess it works for all those I know who read the book, and I am trying the same thing, and it seems to do well. Then the kid knows who is boss, and that you aren't going to come in and comfort them at the drop of a hat!
I haven't read baby wise but one of my emphasies in college has been behavioral science including infant and toddler psychology. When Connor was a newborn our pediatrician gave us the advice to make sure his needs were met before allowing him to cry himself to sleep and that's exactly how we got him sleeping through the night at eight weeks. I like him to know that he can count on me to take care of his needs that he can't take care of by himself (for example he had a soaked diaper when he first woke up last night), but once I know he's fine he's on his own to cry.
we should just put conner and alessia together. they can both scream to each other.
today i started the no bottle in the crib. i am sure she will cry a bit tonight. it is hard to know when to go in there. is she crying cause hse is mad or because the poor thing is soaking wt. hopefully since she won't be getting as much milk to go to bed she won't be peeing her bed anymore.
good luck with conner. i hope he is back to sleeping through the night soon.
oh, the joy's of motherhood! My Landon didn't start sleeping through the night until he was 8 months old! And that only lasted about a 16 months, then he started waking up again! Only then, he could climb out of his crib and come demand our attention! Good luck!!
last night wasn't too bad. In fact he was very good. He woke up around four and needed a dry diaper. I changed his diaper and then he asked for Cookie Monster, which I gave him and then he went back to sleep and did not wake up until about seven-thirty. Good call Anna.
I guess congrats are in order. I didn't know you were pregnant. When is your due date? I hope close to july 23rd as that is my birthday!! Well, Congratulations. Fill me in please.
what?! You are prego? I guess the cat is out of the bag. congratulations. i hope this pregnancy is easier on you than Conner's
Congrats Anna on the pregnancy, if the rumor is true.
Don't you love how kids can manipulate us so much. Stick to your guns. It has worked for me with Rylee and it's been heavenly. Now I just need to stick to my guns with Kaitlin, she's sooo spoiled!
how is Conner doing crying it out? Alessia cried so much she lost her voice. No lie. So now I don't know if she is crying or not in the night. All that matters to me is the silence.
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