About a month ago, when Jony got back from his business trip, we decided that it was time to start doing something to help us get all get some sleep. So, we set up a bedtime routine that we would really stick to and decided to nightwean. Nightweaning has not been easy on Jony since now all the wakings are up to him. If I get up, he will not go to sleep. He just wants the boob. Mind you, Jony had been able to sleep a lot more in the first nine months than I did, so it's only fair that it's my turn. Anyways, we started seeing results almost immediately. It's hard to tell which of those two things actually made the most impact or if it really was both of them together, but we're not changing a single thing. I'm not risking anything! The first change was his actual bedtime. What used to be around 11pm-1am is now pretty consistently 8:30/9pm-ish. That alone was a great thing, giving us both a little time to ourselves and together to just unwind and get ready for bed. Then, the first waking starting getting farther and farther away. He used to get up about 1 hour after he went to sleep every night; sometimes earlier, sometimes (much rarer) a little later. He now doesn't wake up until about 1/2am! We've gone from an average of 3-4 wakings to mainly just one, sometimes two.
For the first three weeks or so, I would still have to take over and give the boob to calm him down and get him back to sleep. For the past week, though, I've been going longer and longer! Now, for the last two nights, I haven't had to at all! Sweet sleep! I did wake up with rock hard boobs and a huge wet spot on my shirt this morning, but I'll take it. I'm sure we'll still have a bad night every now and then, but I believe that we have successfully nightweaned! I can't imagine it will be too much longer before Jeffrey gives up that last one or two wakings. He goes back to sleep pretty quickly (unless his teeth hurt) when he realizes it's not me. We can also hear him stirring over the monitor sometimes: he'll wake up and then put himself back to sleep. Amazing. We are so proud of him. And ourselves for sticking through it and maintaining our goal of not using CIO.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
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2 comments:
Way to go! That is commendable of you and your husband. We are at the start of this and so far our baby loses it when she realized it is not me and she won't be getting the boob. This sleep stuff is hard work. So good to read about it going well!
That is wonderful! It is so great that you are finally able to get some good sleep. Congrats for sticking it out and finding something that works for you.
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