Monday, May 18, 2009

sleeping update

Obviously there has been a lot about sleep on this blog. It is the one area where Dori isn't 'The Most Perfect Baby In The World'. Of course, if he slept like a baby (oh, the irony of that phrase!) we'd have trouble getting him to eat, he'd be antisocial, he'd still be crawling, or something else would fill the void. But with D it's sleep. The worst part is that when he doesn't sleep, neither do we. Actually, Kel has it worse; I'm a deeper sleeper and can ignore some of the low-level screaming. But we wouldn't have gone hungry had Dor resisted solid foods and I know I would have continued to walk upright had he remained carpet bound. His sleepless night is our sleepless night and it affects everything. That's why so many of our blogs, facebook updates and conversations involve napping schedules and different sleep strategies; it's such a big part of our lives as well as Dori's.

So, I am happy to report great progress. Last night he went to sleep at 6:15pm, woke at 4:50am and (once I'd led him back to his bed) slept on until 7am. When he woke he started singing in bed - very cute. When he finally climbed out to come and get us he was in a great mood. The best news? This isn't a one-off! Last week he slept in his own bed almost every night. He went to sleep easily and when he did walk to our room I led him back to bed (with what I call the 'bad date' method: no eye contact, no inflection in my voice, no physical contact), he resumed sleep immediately. The only problems we've had are when Kel tries to put him down. For some reason he plays her up. She has to lead him back over and over for 90+ minutes before he'll fall asleep. With me it's been once or twice and no crying. So I'm on sleep duty from now on. If we can get D to stay asleep to 7am every day we'll all be singing in the mornings.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I've heard your singing in the mornings and am not convinced that's such a good thing! Seriously though, I hope the progress continues.
Dad