development

One of those hard times in parenting

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Maia’s sleep habits have not been working. She’s been having trouble nursing to sleep on some nights, and even when she does go to sleep, she often wakes up around eleven, wide awake, ready to party. Something had to change, and because Sarah’s been the parent of choice for Maia, she especially was ready to try something new. So two nights ago we tried letting her cry it out, as we did with Keana, but it was a failed attempt. We knew in order for it to work we had to stick to our guns, but we broke down and “saved” her. The rest of the night was one of Maia’s worst, mostly because I feel she thought Sarah was going to leave her.

Last night we talked about what we did wrong the previous night and re-calibrated for the new round…

  • 7:30: Sarah records a lullaby on the laptop to be played in a loop to reassure Maia in her times of need.
  • 8:13: We put Maia in her crib, I turn on the recording, set the laptop to shut down in three hours, and we wish Maia sweet dreams.
  • 8:14: Maia is already crying her little heart out.
  • 8:42: Maia’s cries die out quite a bit, with only periodic, long, sad howls interspersed.
  • 8:52: The crying picks back up.
  • 9:01: Cries start to die down again and I’m hopeful this is it as Sarah’s faint recorded voice can be heard in the breaks.
  • 9:25: Poor little Maia is really putting this to the test. I’d say she’s as headstrong as her papa.
  • 9:37: Silence. Finally.

She woke up again at 2 a.m. but went back to sleep fairly quickly, on her own. Then woke again at 4:45 a.m. ready for milk, but again, went back to sleep after her little snack. Then we all woke up (again) at 7:30 a.m.

Have we done the right thing? Only time will tell. We take some comfort in the fact that we did this with Keana and she sleeps well now, but man, these are the hard things you do as a parent that you can never prepare for, even the second time around. Of course today Maia developed a cold and it doesn’t seem right to keep the “training” going while she’s so sick, so we’ll pick this back up when she’s better. Man oh man…this parenting gig is tough.