Is it more important that the baby sleeps or that I sleep?March 15th, 2007 @ 7:01 am
I know you’re sick of hearing about how Babboo isn’t sleeping at night. Believe you me; I’m sick of it to. Oh yes, we are sick of it at our house.
All of you were so awesome and have us tons of ideas to try to help the kid sleep through the night. They were all great suggestions, but the truth of the matter is that we share a room with the kid. So none of them would work. Especially the best idea of letting him cry it out. You suggested it to us with the promise of a few bad nights followed by glorious all night sleeping.
Which sounds oh so glorious.
The King and I weren’t too sure how letting Babboo cry it out would work. Do we put him in a pack and play in the kitchen? Do we move his crib into our front room, thus making it impossible for us to watch TV in the evenings? And also forcing us to go to bed at like 8:00. Yeah, none of those sounded like good ideas.
Fast forward to last Monday morning. 3:00 AM to be exact. Babboo wakes up. The King freaks out because of the fact that we haven’t had a good nights sleep in…well, in way too damn long. He decided right then and there that he and I are sleeping in the front room and Babboo is going to cry it out.
We grabbed our pillows and abandoned the kid. He cried. We checked on him in 3 minutes. He cried. We checked on him in 5 minutes. He cried. We checked on him in 10 minutes. He cried. We checked on him in 15 minutes. He was still crying. We checked on him in 18 minutes, and The King rubbed his back a little. He calmed down and went to sleep.
Glorious sleep.
The next night, we made our beds in the front room. Me on the couch and The King on the floor. Not so glorious, but we had a plan. And the plan was in motion.
Unfortunately the only blankets we have that aren’t in storage are Babboo’s blankets. The King and I were both freezing. But again, we had a plan.
Babboo slept through the entire second night. He woke up for his 5:00 AM feeding, but that’s fine. I have to nurse him before I get ready for work. So yeah, slept through the night.
The King was happy. He was all; it worked. Now we can move back to our bed! I laughed at him for thinking that it was only going to take that one night of crying out. I informed him that he had a few more nights of sleeping on the front room floor.
The third night was the same as the first. Cry, check, cry, check, cry. Eventually he did fall asleep, but at that point The King and I were wide awake, thus still not getting enough sleep. Plus I let The King have the couch that night, so I was rocking the hard floor. And rocking a bad back the next day.
Last night, the fourth night, was the same. Cry, cry, cry. But he didn’t cry as long. I think I only checked on him 2 times. Although, he woke up more times, he was able to go back to sleep.
You guys are the experts, are we getting close? Is he almost trained to sleep through the night? Are we doing something wrong?
And most importantly….
Will we ever get to sleep in our bed again?
Or is us sleeping in the front room just a sacrifice for this:
My Sweet Babboo · The King · Apartment living
Operation Pink Herring
said,
March 15, 2007 at 4:32 pm
Your bed looks SO comfy. Wow. Makes me want to take a nap!
CPA Mom
said,
March 15, 2007 at 4:54 pm
Dude, hard floor - not good!
Makes me remember the days when we lived in a one room hotel while we waited for our house to be vacated. One month in a one room hotel. Two adults, one baby. One pregnant mommy.
We put a pack and play up for Tigger, and a large room divider screen around it so he could not see us when we put him down. Then HP would watch t.v. without sound (ugh!) and I would work on the computer with a little desk lamp. Good times? Not so much.
Can you move the crib in the main room and put your t.v. in your bedroom?
anna
said,
March 15, 2007 at 5:14 pm
From what I’ve read it usually takes anywhere between 3 days and 2 weeks. I was never able to just let Allie cry it out, my sleep was just too precious (my preh-cious). She always ended up in bed with us. For some people that just doesn’t work though.
Lucky Gem
said,
March 15, 2007 at 5:19 pm
My little girl (not quite two months old) sleeps in the living room in her pack-n-play. It works very well! There’s kind of a story to it, but I won’t go into it in your comments. There’s a brief explaination on my March 12th entry if you so must know (who am I kidding, your Isabel! You’ve got more important blogs to read) LOL
Rachel
said,
March 15, 2007 at 6:10 pm
I’ve done the crying it out thing. It can sometimes take a few nights, sometimes longer, but the fact that he’s going back to sleep faster is a step in the right direction. I hope he’s sleeping all night very very soon! Good luck to you guys!
Erika
said,
March 15, 2007 at 6:15 pm
A room divider screen sounds interesting…hmm.
Our problems lately have been more when it’s time for E to go to bed (he has no set bed time, but we’re talking cranky crying, rubbing his eyes, yawning, had a bottle in his dim room, and I’m laying him down in the crib asleep and he wakes up), he cries as soon as I leave the room. That’s where we’ve done the “cry it out” - of course this is at like 7 or 8pm, and we can close the door and go about our business. Your problem is unique because you may be able to start the night in bed but then he wakes up in the middle of the night. It sounds absolutely miserable. I can’t imagine you’re getting much more peace listening to him cry in the living room than in your bedroom if your apartment is as tiny as you said!
I would say stick with it for a little while longer (no more than a week or I’d lose my mind) I guess. I’m not saying it’s “worked” for us but all the sites/books keep telling me they have to learn how to put themselves back to sleep when they are woken up for whatever reason (including a wet diaper - but not a poopy one i guess)…
HollowSquirrel
said,
March 15, 2007 at 6:16 pm
DUDE. You need to get back in that comfy bed before I fly out and claim it as NapLand USA.
The Babboo is too stinkin’ cute and I’d be forced to take him into the bed with me and jump up and down and make him laugh, thereby eliminating the need for any crying out sessions. We just laugh and jump and be merry. Screw sleep! Yippee.
Ok. I digress. I think you’re close on the sleeping through the night– it’s just difficult when you DO move back in that you keep consistent with not going to soothe him, which is SO easier said than done. I’d work on getting more blankets and an air mattress for the living room. Just sayin’…
BEST OF LUCK! AT first I typed “best of cluck” which I prefer, don’t you?
Carrisa
said,
March 15, 2007 at 6:50 pm
Oh the sacrifices we make so that our kids can learn things. And by we I mean people other than me because I have no kids and get an excellent night sleep every night! (especially after I found out how to drown out my husband’s snoring… FAN!)
Molly
said,
March 15, 2007 at 7:33 pm
Ooh your bed is pretty!
I am the LAST person to give you baby sleep advice, but the best person for sympathy. I hope it gets better soon!
Wendy
said,
March 15, 2007 at 7:38 pm
We are experiencing the same thing with our 8 month old! She is in a crib in our room and has very erratic sleep patterns. One night she’s up once, sleeps through the next night, then is up 5 times the next! We could put her in our 6 year olds room but we feel bad because he needs sleep for school! We had hoped that she would be in there by now:(
Frema
said,
March 15, 2007 at 8:49 pm
I have no children, only sympathy. Maybe you guys should look into getting a queen-sized air mattress during this time. They’re pretty cheap — about thirty bucks — but you’ll sleep SO MUCH BETTER.
Jill
said,
March 15, 2007 at 9:01 pm
One thing that might work is to try to quit nursing. I know it isn’t the funnest thing in the world to wean a baby, but they get used to being snuggled and nursed and that is what they expect when they wake up. I was a wimp when it came to quit nursing my oldest, but 18 months was way too long. When they start undoing your shirt in the grocery line, saying “booby” you know its time to stop!
angela
said,
March 15, 2007 at 10:47 pm
Wow, it’s just like being in college again. With tiny baby blankets.
Lindsey
said,
March 16, 2007 at 12:19 am
I wish I could help you, but I am childless and my dogs generally sleep through the night…unless they have to go out, but that doesn’t happen very often. Sorry
I hope it gets better soon.
Lizzy
said,
March 16, 2007 at 3:38 am
You’re totally on your way. A few crappy nights wind up being more blissful nights in the long run.
And don’t get discouraged if you have a few setbacks.
Even when the baby is sick. Don’t break all your hard work with caving in and doing the pick up and rock. From our experience, it sets you back a few nights.
In my own experience, crying it out is so hard on you, but SO worth it in the end… Good luck, Isabel. Hang in there!
Heather
said,
March 16, 2007 at 12:45 pm
Can’t wait to hear if it works!! Zack is only 9 weeks but already I’m thinking how long until he should be able to make it? How old until I can stick him in his room and let him cry? God I need some sleep!!
Good luck and I hope this works. I’m sure by now you REALLY need some sleep!!
Liza
said,
March 16, 2007 at 2:09 pm
Don’t quit nursing! That has nothing to do with the baby sleeping. But you already know that.
I agree with the folks who say “hang in there.” I can’t promise you no more sleep interruptions, but it will improve dramatically.
I do think some kind of visual barrier between you and Babboo will help, if you can think of anything that would work in the space. Maybe a cheap curtain on a lightweight pressure-mounted curtain rod, or fishing wire and strategically located cup hooks?
Hilary
said,
March 16, 2007 at 7:19 pm
Wow, your readers really do have some fabulous advice. Everything I was going to say has been covered. So I’ll just say how frickin adorable sweet Babboo is sleeping in his crib.
I do think a lot of it is him being able to see you and The King. Dom used to fall asleep no matter what was going on. But now, he’s old enough to be nosey (really nosey). So I have to take him upstairs to put him to sleep and then shut the door to drown out Mia running around singing like Celine Dion. I know that if Dom could see me, there is no way he would put himself back to sleep.
I do think you are close. I just wish you could be comfortable while he cries it out.
Christar
said,
March 16, 2007 at 7:55 pm
I’m totally for the cry~it~out method. I don’t think we’ve ever tried it with Zachary, but then again, he’s not my kid. I can’t make those decisions. But I do know, that when I have kids of my own, I will enforce the cry~it~out method because I love it! It makes it so your kids don’t become spoiled or bratty, and they kind of become independent of you.
Lisa B
said,
March 19, 2007 at 4:52 am
Oh my gosh, your bed looks so comfy cozy. Is that a down comforter?
Baboo might not be sleeping but he sure is growing!
Thank you for this post. I had been feeling down this past week since its been TWO YEARS of trying and no baby. But this reminded me that when we had a baby, that baby NEVER slept. And it was hard.
Hope you can sneak back into your bed soon!
hola, isabel » Hi, it’s just me
said,
March 21, 2007 at 3:16 pm
[…] The King and I are still sleeping in the front room. I don’t dare move back into the bedroom until Babboo has slept through the night for a few nights in a row. That has yet to happen, damn it. […]
hola, isabel » An open letter to The Things I Hate About Today
said,
April 4, 2007 at 5:02 pm
[…] Why did I have to get such a horrible night of sleep last night? Why did Babboo wake up every hour? Why am I the only one that seems to hear him? Why is the front room floor so damn hard? And cold? Why are we still sleeping in the front room?! […]
» Red spots, happy thoughts, and big hair
said,
May 21, 2007 at 4:35 pm
[…] Babboo is sleeping in the front room (in a movable crib) and we are sleeping in our bed. It’s been working out gloriously. […]