This week has been a week of change for us in parenting Micah. In utter exhaustion, we came to the realization that some things have to change. Now.
We began to make some changes. ONE: weaning Micah. It's about time, really. He's fifteen months old, and I'm thirteen weeks pregnant. Enough is enough. :) TWO: working harder again on getting him to sleep well. The combination of Micah waking two to three times a night still, getting up for the day between 5 and 5:30am, and me being pregnant, has not been pretty. Stewart and I have not regularly slept through the night since before Micah was born (with the exception of about three blissful weeks when he was three months old). Needless to say, we're exhausted!
Weaning is going fairly well. We're at over forty hours now of Micah going without breastfeeding. So far so good.
Sleep training (or whatever you choose to call it) is not progressing quite as well. We have decided to try letting Micah cry-it-out (once we know that he is okay and his needs are met). For us, we have decided this is not an option when our babes are little. But I think it's a bit of a different scenario once they are older, especially when nothing else seems to be helping. So we started Saturday afternoon at his nap, and it went reasonably well. Saturday night our friends had Micah sleep over at their house, so we could get a good night sleep. And we did! And so did Micah! Of course, at their house he slept 10 hours straight. What a kid!
Well after his wonderful performance for them, we had high hopes for last night. We were sorely disappointed! He went to bed easily, only crying for about four minutes. But then he was up at midnight for 45 minutes, crying on and off, and again at 5am. Finally at 5:45am, we decided to call it good and get up for the day. So much for 10 hours straight!
We're going to press on, and hope for improvement... but I'm afraid this won't be as quick and easy as I'd hoped. So if you think of it, please pray that Micah will get the hang of this, and we'll all be sleeping better soon.
Charisa, I found once I weened Caleb and he got used to not feeding at night, he would sleep more consistantly through thenight. I had similar issues with him waking to feed 2-3 times a night until I weened him. Press on at some point he will be sleeping through the night. Sammy has only woken 1 time a night since he was born to feed so maybe your #2 will do the same :)
ReplyDeleteThat is a tough one Charisa. I would encourage you guys to keep pressing on with his sleep training - breaking one habit and helping him form another. Obviously he can sleep thru if he did it at your friend's house. The breaking up of a night's sleep really wears on a person after a while and it is exhausting. Having been there, I can totally relate. Will be praying for you guys that he will learn this quickly. Love, Auntie Coke
ReplyDeleteWe are praying. Micah's new profile picture is fabulous. Really tugs on my heart! I can see the mischief in his eyes.
ReplyDeleteHang in there! I remember those days. It will be a hard transition to tackle both weaning and sleep training at the same time, however they likely do go hand in hand. I remember after weaning Noah when I was also pregnant with Eva, having lots more energy since my body was no longer producing milk. It's so worth it when they're old enough, and you're needing every extra bit of energy you can find keeping up with a little one while pregnant. Praying for you guys!
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