I'm not good at letting my kids cry it out. And for a while there, letting Callum sleep in the swing or cosleep had been working well. But, his sleep had progressively been getting worse. It had gotten to the point that he was sleeping in 45 minute intervals and it was becoming exhausting, both mentally and physically, on all of us. And once it wasn't working, I knew we had to change it. I just didn't know how...
Then I came across this. It seemed like a rather peaceful way to transition Callum not only from nursing all night long, but also to sleeping in his crib. I know the actual article talks of cosleeping, but I decided I wanted to go for it and quite night nursing and switch him to his crib all at once.
So, we began on a Friday...that way it was ok if it was a really bad night! The first night Callum woke six times. But, each time we got him back down in his crib without nursing him. I was feeling pretty excited about the whole thing after that night. In fact, I was sure it could only get better from there. But, I was wrong. Night two came around. Callum literally cried ALL NIGHT LONG. He was in our arms, just wailing. And I don't think it was over wanting to nurse. I truly believe it was because he wanted to be in our bed. It was awful. But, what I learned was, it was a turning point. Night three, Callum woke three times. Nights four and five, two. Then night six, once.
Each time I go in, I pick him up to calm him down, then set him back in his crib. If he starts crying, I put my hand on his chest and sing to him. Once he calms, I take my hand off, then a minute later stop singing, then walk out of his room. Sure, it's a process. But it's a process that works for us. I don't feel like I am just leaving Callum to fend for himself, and he doesn't scream hysterically, but goes to sleep. I call it a win.
We now have our evenings back again and it's felt heavenly.
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