Sleep

Sleep has been such a quest for all three of us since Lorelei was born. Around 8 weeks, she started sleeping in six and seven-hour chunks of time, which was a great relief from every three hours. That lasted about a month. Then, she started waking up earlier and earlier, so again, I was nursing her every three or four hours. I figured she was hungry, and most of the "sleep experts" did not recommend sleep training until six months or more. I was exhausted and cranky all the time, and didn't know how to fix the problem.

Everyone gave me advice: "She's obviously not getting enough from you." "Why don't you try formula/cereal/people food?" It was so frustrating. I wasn't prepared to give her formula or anything other than breastmilk for the first six months. I knew she was getting enough; breastmilk just digests faster than formula. Deep down, I knew there was something else going on, but I was too tired to really get to the bottom of it.

It wasn't until I started a new job when she was six months old that we finally decided we needed to really try to fix things. First, we got rid of the pacifier, thinking that she needed it to go to sleep. That didn't really work; she was still waking up every three hours. I would nurse her, and she'd go back to sleep. We tried to let her cry it out, but it was so excruciating to hear her cry, and I was always wondering if she needed me. What kind of mother was I to ignore her cries.

I read a book by Dr. Ferber, and it changed my mind about crying it out. I could really see how Lorelei would wake up and not know how to put herself back to sleep. So one night, we were determined to see it through. She woke up at 10:30, and Jerry checked on her to make sure she was ok. One of us continued to check on her every 7 or 8 minutes. She screamed for an hour. It was torture. I wondered if we were doing the right thing. But then she fell asleep and slept till 5 am! She hadn't done that since she was 8 weeks old! Maybe we were on the right track. The next night was a bit of a backslide. She woke again around 10:30 and fussed/cried for 30 minutes, then fell asleep. She woke up twice more after that. I was really frustrated. On night three, she slept straight through until 3 am, I fed her, and she slept until 7 am!

I think we really figured out the problem, and now she can put herself back to sleep. Not every night is perfect, and she sometimes wakes twice, but I usually only have to feed her once. It's a work in progress; I hope it continues to improve.