So, my original intention was that my next blog post should be a happy-go-lucky recounting of this past weekend's Halloween festivities (which were, in fact, a blast), but before I do that, I first have to explain what's been happening since Halloween because, to be honest, it is sort of all consuming.
Starting about five nights ago, Kayla randomly started waking up in the middle of the night. The first night it was 3am, then Friday it was 2am, Saturday 4am, Sunday 1am...and she would scream. Just scream. She would wake up fussing and if you didn't go and get her right away, screaming ensued. (Poor Suzanne, Tim and Davin, who were staying with us this weekend and had to suffer through it!) And so, Chris and I finally decided last night that it was time to lay down the law. I think we were ill-prepared in some ways, because Kayla has always been such a good sleeper. Since the very beginning, she went down so easily that we never really faced a struggle or had to learn how to deal with one. Additionally, we've been so disciplined about making her sleep in her crib, putting her down while she's awake, etc., that I just never expected to have to start sleep training at almost 7 months. Of course, that's babies...always changing it up when you least expect it.
So, last night was our first official night of sleep training. After having gotten no sleep for four nights and having dealt with a fussy Kayla all day each day, I was a wreck by last night and so Chris offered to take first shift while I tried to get some sleep. It should be noted that trying to sleep through the baby screaming when you're in a two bedroom apartment...pretty much impossible. I had in earplugs and, at one point, had piled two pillows over my head, and I could STILL hear her. Alas.
Night One: Kayla woke at 3am and started to fuss. Within five minutes she was full-on screaming and so, Chris went over and started trying to comfort her. From there, they started a cycle: comfort, leave, scream, repeat, which went on for an hour and a half. Chris was going in every 10 minutes, shushing her, whispering comforting words to her, patting her...and she would start to calm down and then "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!" It was horrible. I came out around 330am and, God bless my husband, he just looked at me, smiled and said "Well, this is fun." Kayla screamed on and off until about 430am when she FINALLY passed out. She then slept until 700am. At 700am I heard her start to squawk, but I didn't go in to get her until 800am. Part of the sleep training theory is that they need to physically be in their beds for 12 hours and that means that if they wake up an hour early, you are supposed to let them talk and squawk and play until that hour is up. And so I did.
Today has been a trial. The poor nanny came today and so is taking the brunt of Kayla's less than stellar mood. We put Kayla down for her nap at 1000am, as normal. She went to sleep easily, but was up within 30 minutes. Considering her morning nap usually lasts more like two hours, this was not bueno. She has then proceeded to fuss and be unhappy pretty much non-stop. I'm really hoping she goes down for a decent nap this afternoon or who knows what we'll be dealing with tonight!
On a side note...my worries about the babysitter running off with Kayla, probably for naught now. Lord knows I wouldn't steal her right now. The screaming is a fabulous child napper deterrent. See? There is always a silver lining.
Anyhow, so tonight is my night on Sleep Training Duty. I am 100% dreading it, but keep trying to remind myself that the books promise it should kick in within a week (I'm trying to ignore all the friends who have told me how much longer it took it to work for them). Please keep your fingers crossed for all three of us! I fear we're in for a bumpy ride.
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