NIGHTMAREISH NIGHTS

We had a wonderful time away, road tripping along new south wales north coast. Our Son slept in his own swag as I don't like to share beds with children. His swag was always next to ours and we put a clasp on the zips as he likes to play with them, and would hate for his to escape. I don't think he would escape, rather come and jump on our swag. Anyway I rather be safe than sorry as we often camped by water.

So the nightmareish part begins. We traveled for 25 days in total, each of those days Israel slept beside us, for the longest stint in his life. We have traveled before, but have never had repercussions of this. Since we have been back he has struggled to go to sleep by himself, he needs the comfort of one of us with him. By the end of the day I am usually ready for him to go to sleep, and lets face it spend some quality time with my husband, child free. So the technique of sitting there rubbing his back for hours on end, until he is finally exhausted enough to falls asleep was not up my ally! Lets add to this him waking up in a terrible fright in the middle of the night, only falling asleep on our bedroom floor on his fold out couch instantly (no kids in bed whatsoever). You can only imagine how long these few days have been me hoping desperately that his routine will get its self sorted.

Now I have never had a bad sleeper, from day one I fed this child and he would eat his fill and go back to sleep instantly. At 5 weeks of age he was sleeping 8 solid hours (and i'm not cheating by adding a secret dream feed in) and a few weeks later he was sleep a solid 12 hours. BLISS it was! Before we went away, at nap time and night time all I would have to do it walk him to his room, say I love you and good night and he would fall asleep, no fuss. We have stepped into the dark side! While I was pregnant I was filled with horror stories of how I would never sleep again. I came to expect this and was okay with this, until I had a very contented and peaceful child. I am now used to this and broken sleep is not okay, especially when I know everything is okay. He is not sick, or hungry or thirsty (i know this as when he comes to sleep in our room he falls asleep instantly). He just wants to sleep next to us.

Now here's a controversial post, one on sleep of children. Everyone has there own techniques. That's fine but this is mine and it works for us.

So what's the problem. Israel has always had his own room. I decided this before he was born. At the hospital, I liked the idea of him in our room and tried this for one night. On night two he was sleeping in his cot in his own room and it worked a treat for our family.

So last night we were out for the second night in a row. The night before he was at his grandparents house and they use their technique of putting him to bed. That's fine because that stays in that house and Israel knows it. Last night be fell asleep on his fold our couch at our friends. Tonight will be the first night of tough love at night time. He already faced it at nap time the first full day we were back. He got used to falling asleep in the car, so I just had to let him scream It out. it only took around 10 minutes. I went in there a couple of times in the beginning and told him he needed to go to sleep he agreed, he would usually says no ni nyes if he wasn't ready. When he kept fighting the issue I just let him scream and he fell asleep. I only needed to do this for one nap time and now he goes to sleep beautifully during the day again.

So now for night times. Tonight will be the first tough love like I said. But this morning he woke up at the lovely time of 3:30 am. I was strict and let him know it was time to sleep. He kept screaming and screaming and then dared to venture down the hallway. This only happened once or twice when he transitioned from a cot to a big boy bed. With a swift motion I quickly picked him up and put him back in bed and told him he needed to stay there until the end of nap time. This only happened a couple of times in one sitting before he realized that he had to stay put until I came to get him a couple of hours later. So last night when the crying got louder and closer and I heard those little footsteps I knew the battle was on. So I quickly jumped out of bed, ordered my husband to move over so I would be closer to the door, and quickly picked him up before he got to our room and put him back to bed telling him no more and it's ni nye time (I tried to use language he would understand) A few minutes later those footsteps again. This time he asked for weetbix, hmmm he didn't eat a whole lot before he went to bed, but that's no fault of my own. I am not a cafe and the kitchen it definitely closed at 4ish am, so said no weetbix, you should have eaten before you went to be you can eat in the morning. I do not want to get into the routine of 4 am feeds, no thank-you! footsteps again and again and again. This time I didn't say anything, just placed him back into bed, soon the crying and screaming got softer and was finally asleep.

I know a lot of people against the crying technique. I understand that it's not fun hearing your baby cry, especially at 4 am. But let me say this, my child doesn't hate me, nor has he lost trust in me. This morning when I went in to wake him up I gave him a big cuddle and got one back. He woke up with a smile on his face and is playing happily as I type. Like I said this is not for everyone but can almost guarantee you that he won't wake up tonight and if he does it won't be for long. Let's hope this will work for falling asleep tonight! Wish us luck!