CIO

Jeff mentioned a few weeks ago that Clare needed some sleeping practice, he's right. Clare doesn't sleep much, she doesn't nap for long stretches and hardly ever sleep thru the night. Luckily she doesn't act as tired as she must be; she wakes up with a smile each morning and doesn't fight sleep at night, I guess life could be worse.

Saturday night I put Clare to bed around her usual 8:00-8:30pm. I put her down drowsy, what they suggest so that she learns to put herself to sleep. Typically this works well, she’ll watch the graphic of a cow jumping over the moon, stars and some sheep that play on her ceiling and while she falls asleep. I went to bed around my usual 10:30 only to wake up to her crying at 11:45ish. I tried to get her back to sleep by just giving her her sucker back and putting her on her side, this usually works. Not last night! I finally decided I’d just rock her back to sleep, hoping that would do the trick, well it worked for about 10 minutes. For some reason she wasn’t happy, at all. I tried to get her soothed and back to sleep, but it wasn’t working. Calling for Jeff’s help didn’t work either; he was sound asleep on the couch.

So, with my sisters suggestion and words of encouragement and my strongest will in mind, I decided to give “Cry it out” a try. Basically, tell her I love her, give her her sucker, put her on her side and walk out. She cried the entire 10 minutes (felt like 100) while I sang loudly in my head in an attempt to drown out her screams. I went back in and soothed her quietly, no talking, and walked back out. 10 more minutes slowly ticked by on the iPhone. I walked back in and soothed her again, this time she was quiet, and I walked out. 10 more minutes and by golly she was asleep, sweet success!! Glad two of us were sleeping, I was awake for another half hour.

Our first night of CIO was somewhat of a success, until 3am when she cried again. By this point I was too tired to try again, and Jeff had just come upstairs inquiring how our night was going; funny you missed the first round of screaming. I decided at this point to just bring her in bed with me, after all nothing makes both of us happier than holding each other. She slept well until 5:30, at which point I fed her and put her in her own bed where she slept off and on until I finally gave in for good at 8.

Long story short; CIO does work but at the expense of my heart hurting, my eyes are filling up just thinking about her screaming. Here’s to hoping tonight is a better night. I need to keep in mind that she isn’t hurting, or at least I don’t think so, and that this will help in the long run. I can do this!