Saturday, May 31, 2008

Sleep Training...

does not work. While Dorian has slept 6 hours at the beginning of the night the past 3 nights, the following 6 hours have been HELL. He cried for 2 hours STRAIGHT last night. And I had already fed him and burped him. I finally pulled him into bed with me at 5am and he fell asleep on me. Then he woke up 30 minutes later, ready for the day to start. But sooooooooooooooooo fussy. Yesterday was horrible too. That night he would sleep for 15 minutes, then wake up and cry for 45 minutes. He woke up very early that morning too. And then was a pain in the backside all day long. Crying, fussing, not letting me put him down, clinging to me, not napping! He hasn't been napping today either. He had been napping really well for the past couple weeks and now he's refusing to nap at all - just screaming in his crib for an hour before he finally falls asleep for 30-45 minutes. He was doing 1.5 hours-2 hours before we started this round of sleep training! Whoever said sleep training works was a flippin' liar. It seems to have made his sleep so much worse! Apart from that 6 hour stretch at the beginning of the night...if it weren't for that, I'd be throwing in the towel right now. I'll give it a few more days, but I am dying here. I feel as exhausted as I felt back in February when I couldn't stop complaining to you all about my lack of sleep. And I start my program on Monday. And James is gone until tomorrow. THIS SUCKS. Why can't Dorian just sleep? I put him down and he immediately starts crying now...it's like he knows what is about to happen. He grabs my arm and won't let go and just pleads with me with his eyes and cries. It's horrible. He makes me feel like the meanest mother in the world. I can't sleep when he's crying. James can sleep through it, but I can't. Even if I go in the farthest room from his bedroom and put in earplugs. It's agony. I can't take much more of this. So what if we co-sleep until he's 5 years old? What's the big deal? We're both much happier and better rested.

3 comments:

Carey said...

Why not co-sleep?? It's not like he's going to be 16 and crawling into bed with you at night.

We're having a tough time getting Hudson down for naps lately... at night, he usually cries for a bit, but then falls asleep (esp. if we go in to soothe him). I can't blame him really... all he wants is to be held & cuddled. Naps though... well, he sleeps in his swing in his room. Hey, it works!

Karyn said...

Hey, if it's not working for you, stop doing it! Sleep training does work (I did it, but my son was about 9 months old. It took 2-3 days), but just like any remedy, it's obviously not effective for everyone. If you guys can co-sleep, why not? I worry about you being as exhausted as you were before, with all you (will) have going on, but why make things worse? Don't beat yourself up - everyone learns to go back to sleep on their own eventually :)

Take care - hope to see you soon!

XOXO
Karyn

Kelly said...

Thanks for the support, you guys. I am going to give it a few more days after last night's success. I love co-sleeping with my boy, but I don't want to be co-sleeping when I start school. Plus, we have a double bed, so as Dori grows, it's getting tight! :)