Didn't want to do it...but finally did.

"Cry it out"... a curse word in many homes.

We (I) didn't want to go this route with getting Laura to sleep. I know it's important for a baby to learn to self soothe and be able to put themselves to sleep. Laura has from day 1 been a baby who needs motion for soothing - we used a lot of the "S's" in the Happiest Baby on the Block book. She needed the swaying and the shooshing... did this create a monster?

Laura has needed to be rocked/walked to sleep almost since then. Very rarely would we lay her down and be able to let her fall asleep on her own (or with a pacifier).

Before Easter, we had a great stretch of sleep habits - she was nursing to sleep at around 8pm and getting up just once at around 2-3am to eat, then back to sleep until 6 or so. That all changed Easter weekend - she was up 4-6 times a night! Ugh... not sure if it was teeth - or hunger - or just that she was waking up and not knowing what to do if mommy and daddy weren't right there to rock her nurse her or walk her back to sleep.

I was okay with nursing her many times at night if it was hunger - but this week she has proved to me (or what I think is proving to me) that it's not hunger per se... this week she has been choosing to refuse her bottles at daycare - and partake in the all night buffet at "mom's diner"... well, sorry to say, but Lynne's bottle diner is open all day! Two days in a row Laura took just 8 ounces total at daycare. Then she was up every hour and 45 minutes to 2 hours overnight. Ugh. Momma is tired!
Here's what a typical night has looked like for the past 2+ weeks:
7:45pm nursed to sleep
8:30pm - awake fussing - mommy picked her up and comforted her
9:20pm - fussy - mommy picked her up and comforted her
11:30pm - awake to eat
1:30am - awake to eat
3:20am - awake to eat
5:30am - awake to eat and didn't really go back to sleep

I decided we needed to change something... last night we let Laura "cry it out"... not the approach I wanted to take, but my sweet baby is exhausted. Her naps have become short little 20 minute cat naps that she wakes up from in a panicky scream... so this was how last night went...

6:10pm 3 ounce bottle (she was too distracted to eat from mom's diner)
6:20pm Put into crib happy and awake with a doll, a stuffed piggy, a couple burp cloths, and a pacifier
6:23pm She had been babbling happily for 3 minutes... then...
6:45pm She had been screaming and crying for the past 22 minutes... then...
Silence... until
11:40pm! I fed her and she went right back to sleep
1:17am awake and expecting me to come to her... but I resisted...
1:40am She had been awake and crying out, but not really all out pissed off screaming
1:44am - after 4 minutes of outright screaming and crying - silence...
until...
3:40am I fed her and she was back to sleep until 6:10am

The best part... today at daycare she took all 4 of her bottles AND took 3 naps! 3 good naps! a long morning nap, a decent afternoon nap and she was taking her evening snooze when I picked her up at 4:30!

Tonight she was in bed again at 6:30 and she cried for 30 minutes... we'll see how the rest of the night goes.

I know Laura needs the good chunks of sleep as much as I do so hopefully she'll continue with good naps, eating during the day, and continue being her happy normal self :) She's been a grumpy fuss-butt during the day lately - but Lynne said she was back to normal today with getting good naps :) YAY!

What I am going to find hard now though... is not seeing my baby girl nearly at all...now that her bedtime has moved so much earlier ... out of 24 hours - I'll be seeing her at most only about 5 of those hours :( Makes me really wish I could stay home...