We're here, and we're tired.
What a long week it has been. Mallory has chosen 3 AM as her new wake-up time, and she's decided to let the whole world know with loud sobbing. Three of the last four nights, Mallory has been crying -- real crying with huge tears -- in her crib anywhere between 3 and 3:30 AM.
I know she is teething, but I think we've also got a little separation anxiety going on as well. Dr. Tillman warned us this sometimes happens around the girls' age, but we've been super lucky when it comes to sleep issues up until now.
I've tried letting her cry for five minutes before going in, hoping she would fall back to sleep. No chance. Five minutes seems like forever, and I'm so afraid she'll wake up Anna Claire, that I end up rushing in to get her. As soon as I crack the door open the crying stops. This is how I think I know nothing is really wrong. I've tried laying her back down, but she pops right back up crying again. I just end up picking her up and rocking her back to sleep (no complaints whatsoever from her).
So, after three nights of this, I figure I've now allowed her to start a habit.
Last night I pulled out my baby sleep books and began re-reading (I have already pre-ordered Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Twins, by the way). Everything I was reading seemed to make perfect sense for Mallory, so I created what I thought was a pretty good plan to address her middle-of-the-night crying. Guess what? She slept all night long without a peep. Hooray! You'll get no complaints from me that I didn't have to let her "cry-it-out" -- not that I would have anyway.
Nevertheless, I'm afraid we may have just gotten lucky last night. Both girls have been amazing sleepers since day one, but I know all babies go through phases. I just hope this one is over with soon. I will continue my reading tonight - I just can't let her cry - and hope that this habit isn't too hard to break -- for either of us!
2 comments:
You think this is bad. Connor went through a phase once when he was waking up at 4:30am. The bad part: He was in a big boy bed and could actually get out of the bed and come in our room. Then trying to get him back in his bed was tough b/c he could just get back up. It lasted a few weeks, good nights here and there but mostly I was up at 4:30 and not going back to sleep for what seemed like forever. I now realize that I will not sleep for another five years. Sleep in gone, it will never be the same. I'm excited when I get three consecutive hours. Not b/c the little ones are up but b/c I have trained myself to hear every little sound!!! That's a bad habit.
I read this with interest, hoping to hear how you worked through it. I'm assuming some patting and shushing were involved?
You asked if we liked the floats - love them! They make both us and the twins happy and more confident in the water. They'll be fun this summer when it's warmer, too. I wish they had the canopy, though, so if you have an option, get those...(they sell them with or without.)
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