Tuesday, May 15, 2007

I'm a loser baby

It's a sham...all of it....

In the battle of baby vs. parent aren't I supposed to be the victor since I am the "adult"??

Ha, ha, ha, muahahahaha.

So the muffin aka demon baby has taken to not sleeping during the evening hours. Goes down to bed at around 9 ish, up and 12 ish awake for a couple hours between 3-5 ish. This has led to a very crankyish family dynamic consisting of grunting and evil stare downs.

So yesterday I finally decided to crack down and let her cry.

Let me give you some background:
-my husband has called me a weenie for not being more hard lined when it comes to our daughters eating and sleeping.
-the baby sleeps in a room right next to my brother with a thin wall separating the two.
-up until this point I have cared that my brother be well rested for his schooling etc.

So um yeah, she cried....a lot.

My husband after five minutes (literally, I had a timer) jumped out of bed yelling about how could I let her cry for an hour. I was so delusional it actually made me laugh.
My brother was late for school and I barely know my name.
According to the doctor this should last another four days. I am going to pack on an additional two days due to stubborn DNA.

I will let you know how it goes.

Takeaways:

-it is fun to play chicken with your spouse seeing who gets up first to assist the crier.
-I can't feel my eye lids.
-she is still the best muffin in the world even if I wish she had a mute button some times.
-if someone makes a suggestion that letting her cry it out is evil I WILL take you out....and your little dog too.
-this adventure has been pediatrician sponsored and approved.
-I am a fool for thinking that I was tired when I was younger, single and childless.

Have a drink for me and send all those sleepy, good girl vibes towards my little muffin.

A toast to the thought of posting something besides how I am tired and cranky.

3 comments:

Becky said...

I feel your pain. Trully I do. We have taken to patting only. Once Charlie is down, we only pat- no rocking. This seems to be working fairly well for us. I just couldn't do cry it out- not judging, I just know me. We saw significant improvement the second night. It still sucks a good bit of the time and we are far, far from out of the wood since CHarlie is currently taking something that "may cause drwosiness" so God knows what will happen when the 10 days are up but, anyway...

Have you read Ferber's book? He's pretty much the classic authority on the issue and I've found him helpful. Anyway, it's something to do while waiting for the next interval to check on him. He does things slightly more graduated than a cold turkey, just don't go in method. Good luck at any rate!

Becky said...

Oh, and what's going on with naps? We're having to do some agressive tweaking with length and timing of those as well.

Skyzi said...

I am doing the modified cry it out. I just finished the Ferber book. When she gets really whipped up I do go in and pat her back, I just won't pick her up.

In reality the whole pat on the back lets me go in and see her, make sure she isn't hanging over the railing.