OK...this is bad. Well, not bad, but...still...bad. Shame on me for not doing this whole tough love thing sooner. Lexi slept all night again Monday night and last night. Not a peep out of her until 7:30am. This is all too good to be true. I fully expect to go back to a shrieking toddler at night at any point...but still...WHY didn't I do this sooner? Really? 2 nights. That's all it took so far...2 nights of letting her cry for 5 minute stints. 2 nights of NOT giving her a bottle when she got up. OMG I know I'm not even a week in, but I can't BEGIN to tell you the difference.
She's eating. As in ACTUAL food, and not just her little puffs and things that she ate before to appease me. Monday morning she had a hard boiled egg (just the yolk), rice cereal and pears. She NEVER eats that much for breakfast. Yesterday she ate half a toaster strudel (daddy day) and a yogurt for breakfast. Not too mention the amount she's eating for lunch and dinner.
She also stays up later. We used to put her to bed by 7:30...now we wait for her queues and those have been coming around 8:30 - 8:45ish. I LOVE that I get to spend an extra hour with her at night. An hour of HAPPY baby...not crying miserable baby.
I'm really kicking myself for not doing this sooner. Imean, I knew in my head that we should give up the overnight bottles, but it was so convenient to just give it to her so she'd go back to sleep. I didn't realize the habit I was forming with her. I don't want her to NEED a bottle to go back to sleep. I don't want her to NEED me to go back to sleep. And the last 3 nights clearly proved that she doesn't NEED those things...she WANTED them. And so far, 2 nights of "depriving" her of those WANTS seems to have done the trick.
Don't get me wrong. I was never a proponent of CIO. I didn't believe in it for our child...and still don't to some degree. But I understand why parent's choose this method more than I ever did before...and we've obviously incorporated some CIO into our repertoire.
On a different note...DH and I are thinking of moving back to our old neighborhood. When we moved out almost 4 years ago, we had been living in a 2bdrm townhouse with our big ole lab. We wanted an actual backyard for him to run around in, and not have to tie him up in a "common area". The housing market back then was just starting it's decline, but all the homes in that neighborhood were still well out of our reach. Now that the market is where it is...those homes that were previously untouchable are now priced more into our budget. The area is great, having been built up commercially quite extensively over the last 4 years (think farms now being Meijers, and BBB, and Walmarts and Targets), and the school district is one of the best in the state. The problem? I LOVE our house. Not so much the structure itself I think, but more what it represents. We lived in this house when we started our first IVF. I cried in the would be nursery when that cycle failed. This is the house that I was in when I got the call saying we were pregnant. This is the house we brought our baby girl home to at 1 day old. This is the house that holds all those memories...and it's hard to think about letting it go. I know I'll still have the memories, and that we'll make new ones in a new house...but it doesn't make it any easier. Plus, I DO love the layout of our house. It's so open and airy...everything else just doesn't seem to compare. And the ONE house that we found that we both LOVE? Priced in our price range...but the annual taxes knock it out of there. UUGHH. PLUS, our house is NO WHERE near ready to be put on the market. And I fear what a realtor will tell me I can get for it.
SO many things...
6 comments:
Glad things are going well on the "tough love" front! I have probably been a bit more of the CIO approach than most moms, but ultimately only YOU know your baby and what is best for you both! The end result equally eating and sleep is awesome. I hope things keep getting better.
I had a hard time leaving or house earlier this year, too, but have to say that those memories are never lost. And new, even better ones, are so quickly created. Good luck making your decision! If you can be a buyer in this market, now is DEF the time to do it!
XOXO
Oh, I'm SO glad to hear that things are going much better for you and Lexi! Yay for her eating again, too!
I look around my home and think the same things, how could I ever leave it?
Good luck...it's a tough decision.
Congrats on the sleeping!! The same method worked for us and it was SO HARD. But it worked! I can see where we're going to have problems with feeding so I hope we are able to tackle that. There are just so many things he'd rather be doing!
No need to beat yourself up, maybe it was just perfect timing :)
Either way, I'm glad things are getting better all around for you guys!
That is so awesome! Glad she is sleeping through. We just started putting Miles down awake last week and he cries for about 2 minutes and then DONE. I think he knows it's sleepy time because that is how they do naps at the Montessori.
Post a Comment