Sleep is NOT Overrated!

I can finally say it!! Brooke is sleeping through the night!! And yes, I'm serious... Jeff and I decided to let her cry it out on Thursday night because the doctor said 6 months, we're tired, and even though it's 2 more weeks until the 6 month mark, we were both on board. Our logic was, what's 2 more weeks? I knew it would be hard, but the best decision at the same time.


My plan was to just watch her cry and fuss on the monitor, but rather than lay in bed and cry with her, I had planned to go put on my iPod and clean the messy, messy playroom in the basement, while continuing to check the monitor. And probably shed a few tears since I wasn't going to go rescue her :-( Jeff had planned to sleep through it all, as he usually does!


So before I went to bed, I fed her a bottle around 11pm and then went to sleep. The next thing I knew, I woke up and it was 5 am! I rush over to the monitor, click on the video, and see that she is sleeping. But at the same time, I realize I don't hear the wooshing noise of the fan I keep running in her room, so I touch the volume dial and realize the volume was ALL THE WAY TURNED DOWN!? WHAT? I know I checked it before I went to bed, just as I always do... I climb back in bed to tell Jeff, and do you know what he said?? "Yea, I know. I turned it down before I went to sleep. I just wanted you to sleep, babe." OH. MY. GOD. WHO does that?! So, she obviously woke up, was probably crying for who knows how long, and I slept through it! Our bedroom is on the first floor of the house, and the kids rooms are upstairs. I can hear Brendan when he calls or cries because he is at the top of the stairs, but Brooke is upstairs and around the corner, and our room is pretty soundproof, which I am usually thankful for with it being right next to the family room, but I still felt SO bad! My poor baby woke up, and cried it out, but I wasn't there to cry for or with her! But... now that it's over, it is kind of nice to know that I missed it ALL!! I definitely didn't THANK Jeff for doing that, but I did give him the benefit of telling him that it wasn't all that bad of a concept... that just wouldn't have have been my choice!

Here she is when I went in that morning to check on her... sleeping peacefully. But she doesn't like sleeping on her stomach AT ALL. She has been rolling over for 2 months now, but just last week she started to roll back. For whatever reason, she won't roll back over in her crib, she just gets REALLY MAD and I always go in and flip her back over... I am sure she was just loving crying it out on her stomach :-( But I know in another month, she'll probably roll over just to sleep on her stomach... babies are always changing!


The last few nights have been great though. She still does wake up around 4 or 5 and fusses for about 10 to 15 minutes -- I know, because I HEAR her on the monitor now! -- but she goes right back to sleep. And amazingly she isn't as starving as I thought she would be in the morning. She still wakes up and plays and coos in her crib for a little while. She's also become a thumb sucker through all of this, because she is used to me going in to put her pacifier back in, or getting a bottle, so she figured out the next best thing. Actually, she has never been able to keep a pacifier in her mouth since birth, so I have it strung on a baby washcloth to create a little handle. I used to swaddle it in and then it would stay propped in her mouth, but now she can actually pick up the little washcloth and sometimes manage to get it in on her own. But in the dark, she mustn't be able to find it and so she uses her thumb. It's really cute to see her do that, but Jeff doesn't feel the same way because all he sees are $$dollar signs$$ to fix her teeth later on!!

The first morning, I eagerly awaited her waking up. She slept in forever... obviously a little exhausted from the crying I never heard, and then I took a video of going in to get her! She was the same happy little baby, obviously forgetting that she cried for who knows how long, and now I am so happy that I did this!! I know the cry it out solution is not for everyone, but so far I'm 2 for 2, and it works for me. If I had a child who cried for hours or just didn't seem to be adjusting well to the new sleep solution, I am sure I would be trying something else. I am really glad this worked! I LOVE SLEEPING!!