Ok, folks. Something amazing has happened. My life has gotten a thousand times easier because of this. In the last post, I mentioned that Zoey had slept really great. Well, apparently, that was just a one time thing. We went back to old, bad habits of waking every 4 or less hours every night. I would go in a nurse her, and she would go back to sleep fairly painlessly. It would take 15 minutes to a half hour every time for the whole ordeal to be over though. And by that time, of course, I would be wide awake. It would take me another half hour to fall asleep myself, only to be woken in 4 hours. Needless to say, it was getting old. I'm sure it is getting old for everyone else to hear about our sleeping situations all the time. I realize this, but a huge part of my brain power goes to this, so I am sharing anyway.
Tanner and I talked about it again and I told him what Dr. Weisbluth advises in the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. His extinction method simply (not to be confused with easily) leaving them alone for the night. If they wake up, do not go into them. If this involves crying, so be it. He claims that within a few days, they will learn to soothe themselves back to sleep. Therefore leading to a more rested child.
This has always sounded too good to be true to us. We have let her cry in her crib over and over again, but always end up going in to her, because she just sounds so sad. And she has been quite sad in the past because she was sick or had 4 teeth coming in or whatever. Of course, the emotions were compounded by her overtired and overstimulated state.
I don't know what the difference was this time. Maybe she just doesn't have pain from the teeth anymore. Maybe her brain is finally to a mature enough level. When decided on February 1st not to go into her at all after I put her down for the night around 7 or 8ish. She did wake a couple of times, but after just a couple of minutes of crying, she laid down and went back to sleep. It has been 1 full week since that first day. Not only does she go back to sleep when she wakes up; she will lay down and go to sleep from the very beginning when I put her in her crib wide awake.. even for naps! I never thought this transformation would happen. I just thought that was a big fat lie when people said that their kids did that. It's not a lie folks! This really can happen.
We are all happy about this. Zoey is a happier baby. She is content to play by herself during the day. She is not super clingy like she always was in the past. I can tell so much easier now when she is ready for a nap because there is actually a change in her behavior. Therefore, I can take her to her crib at the appropriate time so she can get her rest. Before, she was just tired all of the time, even if she just woke up 20 minutes ago, so I would often keep her up way longer than she should have been.
We are a whole different unit now. I am ecstatic about this change in our lives. Hopefully, sleep issues won't take up so much of my brain power now. I know there will be issues in the future when she starts teething again or whatever, but I think it will be easier to deal with now that we know it is possible to regularly sleep through the night. Plus, we will more easily be able to detect when there is an actual problem. I hope I'm not jinxing us by saying our accomplishment out loud.
In other news:
We have been pre-qualified for a home loan this week. We still have a lot of work to do to get pre-approved and find a home, but we are happy that the ball is rolling. Tanner's work office is moving to Bluffdale, UT, so we are planning on moving somewhere close by there.
Yesterday, Zoey walked 57 unassisted steps around the living room. She is still not fully independent, but oh so close.
We are the Cox Family; est 2011.
