Sleeping

With 1 year under his belt, we are trying some new sleeping ideas. 

Before, I could just pat his back with a hand firmly on him to keep him from escaping, but now he is too strong for me to do that. So last night I laid him down whenever he stands up and saying only "lay down." When he sits up I don't lay him down but I only pat him if he is laying down. Well, it took 35 times of laying him down before he stayed and went to sleep. Today I tried it for his morning name and it took 53 times. I was hoping the number would go down, but no such luck. I gave myself til 120 times before I give up. :-) I read about a mom who had to do it that many times the first try but then it went down til eventually she just laid the baby down and he stayed. That might take a few years to get there...

I really like this, though, because I think it will help him to get more independent when falling asleep and I don't feel like I'm abandoning him by leaving the room. He got very very angry with me today, though. It sounded like he was cursing at me. A few times when he stood up he wagged his finger at me and shouted "nah nah nah nah" (no no no no!). Yes, my baby tries bossing me around. I wonder what his teenage years will bring. :-/

As part of his sleep revolution we also started night-weaning him last night. I have gone a year with only a handful of nights that I've actually been able to sleep deeply. I am looking forward to sleeping again! The most he has ever slept in his entire life in a row is 5 hours, and that has happened only a few times. Mostly it's in 2-3 hour segments. Once he's in our bed (when we're too tired to put him back to sleep yet again in the crib) he just nurse-sleeps until I get up in the morning...hence not ever sleeping deeply. Once we just tried leaving him in the crib since that works for some people (Lamoni waited on the couch to make sure he was okay) and he cried from 3-6:30 until I had to get up to teach and he was *still* standing up in the crib screaming. So that obviously doesn't work for him. 

Anyway, back to the night-weaning. Our nurse practitioner is helping us. It involves chamomile tea in a sippy cup, lots of involvement from Lamoni and me sleeping on the couch. :-) She said it will take 3 nights unless the baby is stubborn. haha. Last night he woke up every hour from 1 on but went from 9:45-5:45 without eating! I consider it a success because after I gave him a good feeding he detached and went back to sleep til 8:30. I taught from 7-8:45 so it was perfect. 

So that's the update on Benjamin and my high hopes for what the next few months will bring! He's such a perfect baby besides sleeping, so I hope once he becomes a good sleeper he stays perfect in other areas too. :-)