On Monday, January 25th Mike and I decided to try something different when putting Ethan to bed. His sleeping habits were continually getting worse. Each night I would need to rock him to sleep until he was knocked out, like unconscious out. If I were to put him in his crib one second earlier, as soon as he was out of my arms he would cry his eyes out hysterically. Feeling awful for him, I would pick him up and the process would start all over again. This wouldn’t be too bad if it didn’t also happen at 3am and 5am.
So Mike and I decided to let Ethan cry it out. I was so opposed to the idea; but I kept hearing from other mothers that it worked well for them.
That Monday night, we kept Ethan up later than usual. We wanted him to be extra tired. We put him down at 9:30pm and he cried for 21 minutes. My heart was aching; it was so difficult to listen to him cry. I went downstairs and distracted myself with dishes.
The next night we tried it again and surprisingly he only cried for 3 minutes. Much better than 21 minutes.
Then on Wednesday, Ethan cried for less than 1 minute. And all consecutive nights he has not cried at all. We were so surprised that he adjusted so well, and so quickly. What a champ he is! And now a great sleeper too! But I must admit I terribly miss holding him in my arms and rocking him to sleep.
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2 comments:
That was seriously our exact situation with Drew...except she was 9 months old and she cried for 45 MINUTES the first night :( I had people telling me all the time I had to let her cry it out, but I just couldn't do it until I was ready (or desperate). Live and learn I guess!!
Hi Kathy!! I saw your blog through Nicole's blog list...had to tell you how cute your little one is!! And also tell you that we are having similar sleep issues so you are not alone...you would think at 14 mths they would be sleeping great huh? Think teething has a lot to do with it too. Anyways, good luck!!
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