To Cry or Not to Sleep...That is the Question, Part 2.

As many of my facebook friends know, I have been battling Sleep Deprivation for a couple months now. My little man of 7 months has turned into a night owl and I am suffering through it. When I wrote Part one of this post, I was embarking on the controversial "Cry it Out" Method of sleep training. After all, Anna cried one night and that was it, she was fixed! With Max, We practised modified version of Crying it out for 3 days. Modified because I always went to see him and tried to sooth him. I had read that it was meaner to give in and pick them up after they had cried for so long because then they cried for nothing, but after 3 days, I had to pick him up. It broke my heart to hear him cry and it seemed I got more sleep when i went in and nursed him for 10 minutes and then when back to dreamland as opposed to lying in bed wide awake and waiting for him to fall back asleep.

This sleep issue has consumed our conversations much as it has consumed my facebook status. Teething, congestion, hunger, gas, heat...It had to be SOMETHING or, as it appeared to be, all of the above. Oye, How to fix all of the above. We gave Max Camilia, Hydrasense, Tylenol, Gripe water, a pillow, formula. We even called in the HVAC company to adjust the heat so his room was warmer than ours, nothing really changed to situation.

The biggest change I made was my decision to stop breastfeeding during the day (I will still nurse him at night if he gets up). This was about the time when Anna stopped breastfeeding and I always said I wanted to go to 6 months. In an effort to see if Max's issue was a need for more than my breastmilk, I decided to cut him off. After 6 months of being my sidekick (he wouldn't take a bottle ever since my mid-summer crisis when I gave up on him) I wasn't sure how he would react but he surprised me. And now, He is so cute when he sees the bottle and starts smiling and smacking his lips. However this did not fix the issue of him wanting to nurse every hour through the night until something clicked in my sleep deprived head.

Since Max was born I have been trying to remember things about Anna's infancy. When did she nap properly, When did she start a bedtime routine, when did she start a proper feeding routine. My suggestion to all new moms is MAKE NOTE! These things you will want to know for baby number 2. Since Max started solids, I have been lost about feeding routines as he never seemed hungry.

Well DUHHH, he is never hungry because he eats ALL NIGHT! It seemed my little night owl had mixed up his day and nights when it came to eating. So new year, new routine! last night he was cut off. no nursing until after 5 am. He got up at 10pm, was given a soother and went back to sleep. then he got up at 1am, whined for about 20 minutes and went back to sleep. Then at 6am he got some warm, fresh from the taps, breastmilk and actually ate an appropriate amount of food and formula throughout the day!

Here's hoping that 2011 brings us all more sleep.