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This is a picture of a smiling, happy baby. This is not the Sam that Mommy and Daddy have seen over the past week or so when it’s time to go to bed. Last Thursday, Sam decided that he didn’t want to go to sleep at night. Mommy used to be able to rock him and sing lullabies and he might cry, but soon would fall asleep. After this did not work, we said goodnight and laid him in the crib. After 20 minutes of crying/screaming, Mommy couldn’t help but go in and try to comfort him. He didn’t fall asleep and, when placed back in the crib, began wailing again. Soon, Mommy would come in and rub his back and then leave. He just wailed more. Daddy kept saying - “Leave him alone! Don’t go in there! He’ll wear himself out! We have to break him!” Mommy was finding this harder to believe as the crying jag stretched to one hour. Finally, he fell asleep after an hour and fifteen minutes. The next night, he fell asleep in the pack ‘n’ play while Daddy was getting his bathtub ready. After the prior night’s episode, we decided to leave him there and see what happened. He was still in the pack ‘n’ play the next morning. We thought - hey! We have broken him! He knows he needs sleep! On Saturday night, Sam decided to tell us he knew more that we did and cried for an hour before falling asleep. Daddy is now offering to get Mommy a hotel room so she won’t walk in and “start the process all over again”. Sunday night comes and we gear up as anything is possible. Sam fell asleep relatively easily. Then he cried out and woke Mommy up at 12:45 am. In the first bad move of the night, Mommy decides to make sure he doesn’t have a leg sticking out of the crib at bad angles or something else equally heinous that could prevent a good sleep. Of course, he is awake and the minute he sees me, he starts to cry - I mean, wail! I pick him up to comfort him, he falls asleep in my arms, I put him back in the crib, and before he hits the mattress, begins to wail again. The parents consult. Daddy says to let him cry it out. It’s late, he’ll fall asleep. Forty-five minutes later, Mommy and Daddy are still tossing and turning to the sounds of wailing. We decide to punt and make sure the basic needs have been met. Daddy changes the diaper. Mommy feeds him. Sam falls asleep. Mommy lays him in the crib. Before he hits the mattress, ... wailing. We let him cry some more. At 2:55, we decide that at least one of us should get some sleep that night. Daddy sits with Sam on the couch. Sam falls asleep. Daddy tries the crib placement - wailing. Mommy comes out and since I can fall asleep anywhere, offer to sleep with Sam on the big chair. Thus the night of unending wails moved towards dawn - and the beginning of a work week.... Monday night comes. Mommy and Daddy are exhausted. Sam falls asleep after 45 minutes of crying. Tuesday night - Sam sleeps after 30 minutes of crying. Is there a light at the end of the tunnel? Is the end of the tunnel coming soon? And then tonight, Wednesday, Daddy is reading a Dr. Seuss book to Sam and lo and behold! Sam falls asleep to “One Fish Two Fish!” Can our luck hold? Is Sam actually getting a routine?
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
To Sleep or Not to Sleep