When we got back from Houston, Harper started having some funky nights. As in, waking up at 2am screaming her face off. So I'd get out of bed, pick the girl up and start the rocking routine. She'd fall asleep all nuzzled up on me, I'd creep back over to her crib to lay her down and the minute she hit the mattress, the crying routine would start all over. More than likely, after an hour or so I'd end up shooting her with a mouth full of ibuprofen and waiting until the little Booger passed back out.
Then she went from one time a night to two and three times a night. I was concerned there was something wrong....that she was in pain post-surgery, that those dang teeth were going to pop through any moment or (in a very sleep deprived, 2am freak out) that what if a scalpel or some other piece of medical equipment was sewn back in her and when she rolled over a certain way, it was causing her pain! Not too mention I was starting to feel like I might be over-medicating my daughter so needed to nix the ibuprofen routine. The bags under my eyes were increasingly getting bigger and darker and my ability to focus on a conversation was slipping away.
This last weekend, Jared had his annual D&E Golf Team Reunion and we were hosting in San Antonio. (And let me say, I think they were CRAZY for planning a golf trip in Texas at the end of July. Can you say heat stroke?) So Harps and I got the boot and hightailed it to Honey and Grandy's so that the boys could be boys.
Jared, Chris & Jeromie (They missed Brent Grilliot this year)
Thursday night, The Squirrel went through her 3x wake up routine. Friday night, my mother, God bless her, took the night shift and let me catch up on some zzz's. I think she must have been concerned that I would fall asleep at the wheel while driving her precious cargo of a grandchild around. And on Saturday, Dr. Boswell, a.k.a. Grandy, finally weighed in with his medical opinion. And I quote:
"Brooke, what you have here is a baby! And she's playing you and has you wrapped around her little finger. She knows that she can get rocked by her mom if she wakes up crying in the middle of the night."
"What Mom? I'm perfectly fine for our trip to the Farmer's Market. Why do you look so tired???"
Okay, crisis averted. Time to get serious. And thank heavens we were at H&G's house, far away from a father that wouldn't dare let his baby girl cry it out. Mom and I put on our game faces and after 1 1/2 hours of crying it out (mind you we had the video monitor and I was going in at timed intervals), the Girl gave in and admitted defeat. And low and behold, she slept the entire night! Sunday night, we were back home with Jared in house so I had to have a serious chat about the plan of attack. She will cry, she will be okay and we will not go pick her up. The wake up call started at 11pm, Jared huffed, puffed, moaned and complained but I held my ground and within 35 minutes, she was out - she actually face planted, head into knees while she fell asleep sitting up. And guess who slept the rest of the night? The Squirrel.
Last night I had a meeting and was leaving the house just before bedtime and getting back at 9pm. Okay Jared, man up and be tough. No picking her up, if you go in to soothe her it can only last 1-2 minutes and I promise she will be fine. And, you ask, how did it go? I quote:
"It was tough but I did it and she was fine."Wahoo! I see sleep slowly creeping back into my future. Thank you, Dr. Ferber, for your harsh and cruel parenting techniques!
4 comments:
Oh Brooke, I know that was tough but good for you on staying strong. And good for dad for stepping in and telling you what Harper was up to. That was probably hard for him to do,or maybe not :). Just consider this your first lesson in "tough love". Trust me, there will be many, many more and this one will have seemed like a walk in the park.
(ps) thank you for answering my question about that sign on Pinterest. i went to that website but it was a foreign site (different country) so I couldn't tell how to order it, or if i could order it. Bummer!
We are kind of going thru that right now with Aidan.. she cries and throws a tantrum every nite we put her to bed and has been doing it for a few weeks. Even waking in the night and crying "mommy, Daddy!". At first we went in to comfort her but now we dont and she seems to be falling back to sleep easier, or not waking at all. Hang in there.... carey
I just wrote a whole long post on Ferber - he is, quite simply, the man.
Way to go Brooke!! We had to Freber Hailey at 5 months. When they get sick or thrown off schedule at night. They will play you when they start feeling better. We learned that same thing with Hailey the first time she was really sick. Once better she was still waking up at night just to be rocked...wow they are smart!!
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