1.26.2008

crying it out...

so with Ethan i was completely against him "crying it out" to go to sleep and such. i just couldn't handle it when he was small. so we had a HORRENDOUS time trying to get him to go to sleep, stay asleep, do anything that resembles sleep. it was really bad. many times i ended up in tears and as frustrated as he was. then when we moved to AZ i decided to try again, he was about 13-14 months old and it didn't take long, he cried for a very short time a couple of nights and then it was fine from there on out.

so this time we decided to do it earlier.
the thing about Avery is that she is NOT cuddly or touchy...she is kind of prickly, and i'm not trying to be mean, but she just is. so when we try to get her to sleep it is a battle EVERY SINGLE TIME. she freaks out, arches her back, cries her head off if we are holding her or not. so kendall figured if she is going to do that anyway, why not do it in her crib. because we have tried going in and comforting her and going back out and it doesn't work so great. we end up holding her anyway, and then she goes to sleep that way, which is alright, if she wouldn't pitch an all out fit to get that way. so i am trying to be onboard with this because it is, once again, DRIVING ME BANANAS. i love my kids, but what is up with this non-sleeping business? she will only sleep for 30 minutes during the day a couple of times, on average and she is definitely NOT sleeping through the night and she is grumpy increasingly throughout the day.

so today kendall is gone to school and i am trying to do this crying it out business. because i am at a loss of what to do...i don't want advice, i have read so much and tried so many things and i don't really want so much encouragement, unless you have a really good story, but i just want to send my frustration and sleepiness out into the cosmic void....

it has been almost an hour and she is still crying as much as she was at the beginning...this sucks.

7 comments:

mmhamblin said...

Keep up the good work! Hopefully, it will work better tonight when she is really, really tired! Let me know if you need anything...

jenn said...

yeah, it sucks! i hope it will be worth it in the end. it was for us. i decided that if we were going to have to have kayleigh cry it out (which we didn't, she just did it on her own), then i was going to have to go sleep somewhere else at night. seriously! and if we have another baby that needs to "cry it out", i will! somehow, tim could magically sleep through carter's crying (read, SCREAMING) while i was up all night crying, too!

rachel said...

Jen, I hear you. We go to bed at ten and wake up at ten because that's the schedule my boys work on.I know what everyone says about it but frankly they don't live here. I feel for you sincerely !! I hope that you guys can find your groove before you go a wall. . . love ya.

Audrey said...

Okay, I'm just going to offer one, tiny, comical piece of advice: ear plugs.

Brooke said...

Sorry. We had a hard time with Isaac. I CANNOT do the crying it out thing. It drives me to insanity. But you know that about us :)

Funny thing is I was just thinking about my kids and sleeping the other day. Isaac goes to bed on his own now (as long as it's mommy's bed). But I remember trying to get to the point of him going to sleep on his own. I thought it would NEVER end. I look back now, two years NOTHING. . . It's amazing how fast the time truly does fly (once you are out of the moment!!!)

We have done the same thing with Ainsley. I had learned I hated crying it out with Isaac so didn't even try it with her.

Good luck. I really can feel your pain!

Tina said...

I feel for you too. It's so hard to listen to your baby scream for any amount of time- 5 minutes, 20 minutes, whatever. Like Brooke said, she'll eventually get there and then you'll look back and think- that didn't take so long! :)

Mariley Johnson said...

Well, think of it this way. It's either going to be you or Avery crying for hours on end! Good luck.