Dear Cole,
You know, I'm just not so sure what you have against sleep. Don't you know how wonderful it is? How refreshing and beautiful and amazing? Not to mention how much this mama of yours enjoys sleep - and yet you insist that if you're awake, Mama has to be awake too!
You are now ten months old. You STILL wake up at least three times per night.
Please, little mister. I'll buy you a pony if you sleep through the night.
Love, Mama
PS: Does anyone have ANY suggestions on how to deal with this issue? I am so desperate. We have tried EVERYTHING!!! I have been doing nonstop research on this sleep issue for four months, read three different books and tried many different approaches.
We do a strict bedtime routine with a not-too-early, not-too-late bedtime. I give him a bath with lavendar (calming) soap. I do baby massage techniques to relax him. I swaddle him and rock him to drowsiness (if he's in a good mood), or to complete sleep. He has a blanky that smells like me for a comfort object. The room is very dark for night sleeping, lighter for daytime naps (so he doesn't get his days and nights mixed up). He wears a disposable diaper for nighttime so I don't have to wake him to change his diaper. I don't pick him up when he cries in the middle of the night, I just give him his bottle so he can eat and go right back to sleep.
WHAT AM I DOING WRONG????
Cole wakes up between 3-8 times per night, crying until I go get him or rock him to sleep. Out of pure desperation, we even have tried the cry-it-out method - all it ends up doing is making both of us cry! Cole is as stubborn as his mama, it appears, and won't take "no" for an answer!
Please, let me know if you have any suggestions, I am beyond exhausted and so is Cole!
Have you tried white noise? A loved stuffed animal or singing sea horse? A Nuk (probably a little late/bad idea to introduce now, but hey, it's a suggestion)
ReplyDeleteMy guess is that the cuddling and rocking to sleep has made him think that he has to be cuddled and rocked to fall BACK asleep so cutting that out of your starting bedtime routine so he learns to fall asleep on his own is probably the best bet. But hardest route to go.