Creating a Respectful Sleep Solution: The Update

My husband and I talked that night about what we were going to do regarding the boys’ sleep, and agreed that we would give it a month to turn it over in our heads, and then start gently encouraging both children to go to sleep by themselves. How? We weren’t sure, but we were hoping the boys would show us the way.

And they did. Well, at least Squishy did. Within a couple of nights we had found a solution that worked, completely by accident.

That night, he awoke for the 63646387th time and I was just done. Instead of getting up straight away, I lay there and took a few deep breaths while he fussed a little – I’m sure you know just how stressful it can get when you’re being woken every hour or more at night, and I felt I needed a breather before dealing with him. By the time I went to get up, he had rolled onto his tummy and lay his little head back down. Stunned, I reached into the crib and patted his little bottom and was even more amazed to hear him make his I’m-about-to-fall-asleep noise. And then he fell asleep, and I didn’t hear a peep out of him for the next four hours.

Needless to say, I was gobsmacked.

Since then, we have gradually built a rather lovely little bedtime/night-time routine, and my God, he sleeps! The child who hadn’t given me longer than 90 minutes at a time for months actually sleeps! Sometimes, for five hours at a time! And it’s been so easy, with hardly any tears. The tears we do get are tears of tiredness and occasionally frustration (although not so much now), not of loneliness, confusion or sadness – and he has never been left to work through those tears by himself.

He certainly doesn’t sleep all night long, but the difference is that his nightwakings are totally manageable now. Coincidentally, my SPD has improved to the point that I am able to sleep in bed (albeit somewhat uncomfortably), so we are finally co-sleeping (with Squishy in the sidecarred cotbed) like we always planned.

Here’s how our night-time generally looks now:

We take the boys upstairs to get ready for bed together at 7pm. By 7.30pm, we are cuddling and nursing in our bedroom. If he falls asleep at the breast, he inevitably wakes a little when I burp him. Then, I lay him in the sidecarred cotbed on his tummy. He rolls around a little, fusses some, and fidgets until he has found a comfortable position. Sometimes he will fall asleep with no help from me other than my presence, but most nights I firmly pat his bottom until he falls asleep – it takes all of about 10 minutes, usually. He will then sleep until sometime between 11 and 12, when he feeds briefly and then – get this – fidgets and moans until I put him down. The baby who previously wouldn’t sleep anywhere other than in my arms prefers to sleep in his bed. He still wakes in the night, at the moment it’s pretty frequent thanks to a snotty nose and cough (hayfever perhaps?) but the difference is that the night feeds are brief and easy, and not required at most wakings – just a pat on the bottom is enough to send him back off. Before the cough started, he was waking twice only – at 11pm and 5am. How’s that for an improvement?

Obviously not all nights are the same; we roll with the punches. Just now, as I’ve been writing this post, he woke up and wouldn’t settle for a pat on the bum, so I rocked him until he was calm before finishing helping him go to sleep in his bed, and I think the thing that’s made the most difference is the fact that he falls asleep in his bed. Now, when he partially awakens at the end of a sleep cycle, he is not surprised to find himself there and is able to slip back to dreamland without ever really waking up. Every night I give him the opportunity to fall asleep without my help, but most nights he gets his bum pat. When he’s ready, he will be able to let go of that, and I trust him to let me know in his own way when this should be.

I am thrilled that we have managed to get our night-time sleep to a level that we can all function at – and especially thrilled that it happened without hardly any intervention from me. He showed me what he needed because I allowed him to, finally.

Monkey is going to be a different kettle of fish, though, I’m sure. Watch this space.

Please note that it is not recommended to put your baby down to sleep on their tummy. Statistics show that the risk of SIDS is increased when baby is put down on their tummy to sleep at night, although experts are unsure of why this is. I made the choice to put Squishy down on his tummy to sleep after he showed me he prefers to sleep this way, and when I was satisfied that he was strong enough to roll freely back and forth and change position.

Continue reading here: Do You Trust Birth?

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