Another Post About Sleep
As I wrote in a previous post, Charlotte has lately struggled with all things sleep-related: going down at night, napping, sleeping through the night, and waking up at an inhumanely early hour.
We recently put a couple changes into place. First, when she wakes up at 4:30 in the morning, we check on her, rearrange blankets if neccessary, and then close the door. And let her cry. 6:00 a.m. is wake-up time. Period. Of course, the first time we put this into practice, she cried from 4:30 to 5:30, at which point she fell back asleep and then I had to get up for the day.
As torture-like as this stunt was, it paid off. Such early-morning crying spells now last less than 5 or 10 minutes. And actually, we haven't had one in the past two mornings.
Also, we tore down Charlotte's crib. As I started putting away all the crib-related stuff, I felt immeasurably sad. My little baby is a little GIRL! I'm so proud of her, but goodness. I miss the feeling of her falling asleep on my chest as I rock her, or the ease of changing a poopy diaper for a creature who can't yet roll over.
Well. The going-to-bed drama that we've dealt with for several weeks (we're a cry-it-out family, but Charlotte has tested us full-throttle without tiring) has ebbed. Why? Miraculously, she loves the control and big-girl action of putting herself to bed. I'm utterly shocked. She picks up her blanket, stuffs her thumb in her mouth, climbs onto the crib mattress (which is now on the floor, against a wall), and just . . . goes to sleep. Chris and I think that the key (for her) is that being PUT somewhere pisses her off. But doing it by herself? Why, that's what big girls do! She smiles and waves bye-bye to us as we leave the nursery, and that's that!
Chris and I obviously think we're the best parents EVER now, the past 2 months notwithstanding.
More obviously, I suspect that Charlotte sleeping on a (low) cot at school has helped the transition to a bed. So yes, we got some help on this one from her school.
The only life-without-a-crib trouble we've had is the undeniable fact that Charlotte is an extremely active sleeper. She twists, turns, kicks, rolls, and wriggles. Before we go to bed, we pick her up from wherever she has curled up on the floor (it's always right next to the mattress--she just rolls off), and put her back in bed, covered up with a blanket again.
Then, around 2:00 a.m. or so, she'll cry (sort of half-assed--not a full-on cry) and one of us quickly goes into her room, moves her from the floor and covers her up again (she gets cold with a blanket and thus sort of wakes up), and she'll sleep until wake-up time. If she awakens early, we let her cry or tinker in her room until 6:00, but this has become rare. (Thank you thank you thank you.)
In the meantime, I've ordered a wake-up clock that glows green when it's okay to get up. Since she doesn't yet know her colors, we're not sure how effective it will be.
The crucial thing is that we feel infinitely more human as we've gone from 3 or 4 hours of broken sleep to, well, significantly more. Really, the problem now is that single wake-up at night (which is not that big of deal, but I'd like to see it disappear) and Charlotte's absolute inability to not roll off her mattress. That said, she can sleep on the floor perfectly well!
Naps have also improved, as her sleep schedule has improved with her sleeping through the night. She no longer fights going down for her nap.
The only other thing we've done, which was the ONLY thing the pediatrician's sleep book could recommend at this stage, was moving up her bedtime. (It doesn't sound logical, but the theory is that overtired kids have a harder time falling and staying asleep because their brain chemistry starts compensating for tiredness by ramping up all sorts of stuff.) She used to go to bed at 6:30, but it eventually became 7:00 for various reasons. Over the course of a couple nights, we brought bedtime back closer to 6:30 (which is VERY difficult when you get home from work just before 6:00!). She certainly did not wake up any earlier, so we knew that worse-case scenario, she was getting at least a half-hour more sleep each night. And that's good.
I'm not certain which change has most affected the (oh so very positive) changes we've seen in the past 4 or 5 nights, but I'm afraid to tinker with any of it. I know 6:30 seems very early to go to bed, but Charlotte's pediatrician has repeatedly told us that the super early bedtime is ideal for young children. (The other parents at school thought I was INSANE for leaving the school picnic early to get Charlotte home to bed.) Anyhoo, the science definitely backs up the importance of sleep.
I'm so glad that all of us are finally getting some.
We recently put a couple changes into place. First, when she wakes up at 4:30 in the morning, we check on her, rearrange blankets if neccessary, and then close the door. And let her cry. 6:00 a.m. is wake-up time. Period. Of course, the first time we put this into practice, she cried from 4:30 to 5:30, at which point she fell back asleep and then I had to get up for the day.
As torture-like as this stunt was, it paid off. Such early-morning crying spells now last less than 5 or 10 minutes. And actually, we haven't had one in the past two mornings.
Also, we tore down Charlotte's crib. As I started putting away all the crib-related stuff, I felt immeasurably sad. My little baby is a little GIRL! I'm so proud of her, but goodness. I miss the feeling of her falling asleep on my chest as I rock her, or the ease of changing a poopy diaper for a creature who can't yet roll over.
Well. The going-to-bed drama that we've dealt with for several weeks (we're a cry-it-out family, but Charlotte has tested us full-throttle without tiring) has ebbed. Why? Miraculously, she loves the control and big-girl action of putting herself to bed. I'm utterly shocked. She picks up her blanket, stuffs her thumb in her mouth, climbs onto the crib mattress (which is now on the floor, against a wall), and just . . . goes to sleep. Chris and I think that the key (for her) is that being PUT somewhere pisses her off. But doing it by herself? Why, that's what big girls do! She smiles and waves bye-bye to us as we leave the nursery, and that's that!
Chris and I obviously think we're the best parents EVER now, the past 2 months notwithstanding.
More obviously, I suspect that Charlotte sleeping on a (low) cot at school has helped the transition to a bed. So yes, we got some help on this one from her school.
The only life-without-a-crib trouble we've had is the undeniable fact that Charlotte is an extremely active sleeper. She twists, turns, kicks, rolls, and wriggles. Before we go to bed, we pick her up from wherever she has curled up on the floor (it's always right next to the mattress--she just rolls off), and put her back in bed, covered up with a blanket again.
Then, around 2:00 a.m. or so, she'll cry (sort of half-assed--not a full-on cry) and one of us quickly goes into her room, moves her from the floor and covers her up again (she gets cold with a blanket and thus sort of wakes up), and she'll sleep until wake-up time. If she awakens early, we let her cry or tinker in her room until 6:00, but this has become rare. (Thank you thank you thank you.)
In the meantime, I've ordered a wake-up clock that glows green when it's okay to get up. Since she doesn't yet know her colors, we're not sure how effective it will be.
The crucial thing is that we feel infinitely more human as we've gone from 3 or 4 hours of broken sleep to, well, significantly more. Really, the problem now is that single wake-up at night (which is not that big of deal, but I'd like to see it disappear) and Charlotte's absolute inability to not roll off her mattress. That said, she can sleep on the floor perfectly well!
Naps have also improved, as her sleep schedule has improved with her sleeping through the night. She no longer fights going down for her nap.
The only other thing we've done, which was the ONLY thing the pediatrician's sleep book could recommend at this stage, was moving up her bedtime. (It doesn't sound logical, but the theory is that overtired kids have a harder time falling and staying asleep because their brain chemistry starts compensating for tiredness by ramping up all sorts of stuff.) She used to go to bed at 6:30, but it eventually became 7:00 for various reasons. Over the course of a couple nights, we brought bedtime back closer to 6:30 (which is VERY difficult when you get home from work just before 6:00!). She certainly did not wake up any earlier, so we knew that worse-case scenario, she was getting at least a half-hour more sleep each night. And that's good.
I'm not certain which change has most affected the (oh so very positive) changes we've seen in the past 4 or 5 nights, but I'm afraid to tinker with any of it. I know 6:30 seems very early to go to bed, but Charlotte's pediatrician has repeatedly told us that the super early bedtime is ideal for young children. (The other parents at school thought I was INSANE for leaving the school picnic early to get Charlotte home to bed.) Anyhoo, the science definitely backs up the importance of sleep.
I'm so glad that all of us are finally getting some.
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