Benny has been crying/whimpering/talking/wailing for over two hours every night for three nights. This is certainly the worst it's been in the past two weeks. Nate and I have a new plan. We're giving it a week (we're on Day 2). Before we would go in every 20-30 minutes to comfort Benny and trying to get him to sleep. That resulted in him getting worked up every time we left the room. So, we're letting him deal with things himself now. It's frustrating and heart wrenching, but it's not uncommon (according to some parents) for this to happen. Here's the most recent plan:
1. Put Benny to bed early between 7:30-8.
2. Benny can cry/whimper/talk/wail for an hour. We can check on him briefly and make sure he's not in pain, hasn't pooped, etc. Tonight I tried to get him back to sleep during my intervention, which was a mistake because he cried for another hour.
3. Go outside and drink a beer if this process is overwhelming.
I hate to sound obsessed about this, but a well-rested Bear is a happy Bear. The same applies for Mommy and Daddy. (By the way, Benny has now transitioned to calling us Mommy and Daddy rather than Mama and Dada. It is really freaking cute. It kind of makes up for the no sleep thing. Just kind of.)
2 comments:
I love the "go outside and have a beer" part.
We had to let Austin cry it out. It is painful as a parent but I felt at the time it was best for the entire family. Of course, I felt guilty and some parents told me how horrible it is to let your child cry. We read lots of books about children and sleep. I recommend "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" it really helped me to make a plan and solve the sleep issues. Good luck. I would go for walks because Mark could handle it better than I could. Beer is a good idea too.
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