Oh my gosh! This parenting stuff can be horrible. This week has been a depressing/sleep-deprived foggy week. I am happy to say we all survived it, and at the end of it all, things are getting better.
Let me get you up to speed. After 3 days of PU/PD, things were going pretty well and Frances was getting the hang of things and was responding appropriately. Then day 5 and 6 came and she absolutely revolted (is that the right word?). Every time we would try to put her down, she would get into this crying/shrieking inconsolable fit. We would hold her and she would just look at us with these frantic eyes, pleading for it to be over. Unfortunately we gave a little and sometimes would feed her to settle her down. This only taught her that more fussing would give her what she wanted. And she didn't want the bottle per say, but an outside force to help her calm down.
We figured we had to be stronger and see it through for at least a couple days. Three nights ago was the climax to her unhappiness. She was waking up every hour mad and it was very difficult to settle her down. I still feed her a ouple times at night and maybe that is confusing to her, but I believe she also needs it ( I couldn't go from feeding every hour to nothing, at least not yet). One hour after a feeding she woke up again, pretty upset. I did everything I could and after 45 minutes, I let Aaron have a go. After 30 minutes there was no improvement, so I tried again and finally got her to sleep after 1 1/2 of straight crying. She only slept for an hour or so and then it was back up. Needless to say, I slept horrible (if I did even sleep) and felt in a bad mood. I felt we were getting nowhere and the whole family was suffering.
Still, we plugged on. We stayed more strict to the PU/PD rules and didn't ever cave again. We also started being hyper acute to her tiredness and started a small routine before naps and bedtime. All of these helped and we were getting better. Most of her naps are now 1 1/2 except for her 6:00pm nap which is short (but that is okay because bedtime is close). Last night at bedtime she woke up for 2 hours consecutively, but then spaced up waking up from every 2-4 hours after that. Even when she woke up, she was consoled easily. We are not at the finish line yet, but we are better, a lot better.
Thinking about it, this is a huge change for Frances. She is used to sleeping right next to me in a pack-n-play and waking up every hour to feed. Now she sleeps in her own crib, puts herself to sleep and maybe gets to eat 2-3 times a night. Looking back at this week, even with all the struggles, I feel the PU/PD technique worked well and I might recommend it for some patients of mine. I kinda wish we would have started when she was younger because it probably would have been less of a struggle. Still, we're doing it and that counts for something.
Now that Frances is getting better sleep she is super happy. It's nice to see that she likes the change too. Once Frances starts sleeping through the night, I have big plans for myself, but I'm not ready to share them yet.
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