Last night was the first full night’s sleep I have had in a week. Noah has been waking up in the middle of the night and will only sleep in our arms. The non-sleeping and the screaming have gotten progressively worse with each passing day. First he woke up at three, then one, then midnight, then ten. His screams grew in intensity from Come and get me to I am really pissed. We racked our brains as to what could be wrong. Could it be his teeth which are taking their sweet time to come in? Perhaps his room is too dark and he is scared? Maybe he is still not feeling well from his cold? Unable to come up with an answer, we swapped time sitting in the chair with Noah in our arms.
Not being one who is able to sit in a dark room without something to keep me busy, I began watching movies on my iPod. Netflix is a most magical and wonderful invention. I learned that it was best to watch bad movies because I did not mind stopping in the middle to go back to bed. It is amazing how the pain of watching GI Joe takes away from the pain of sitting up in the middle of the night.
At this point some parents would say, You should let him cry it out. Well we have tried that, but Noah learned pretty early on that when it came to his crying, we, as parents, are a couple of sissies; when we try to be tough he just cries louder, harder and longer. For some reason he is rather stubborn. I think he gets that from his mother. Since we were unable to let him just cry, our sleep deprivation grew worse and our frustration level was right on the edge of madness.
Then it happened. Yesterday he had taken two good naps. When it came time to go to bed, he would not have it, unless he was in our arms. After we had put another nightlight in his room, given him some ibuprofen for his teeth and both of us had tried to put him down, we gave up and brought him out of his room so he could play while we ate dinner. He crawled over to the Tupperware drawer and pulled out his favorite pieces. Then he wandered over to the table where he stood banging Erin on the leg until she gave him a piece of meatloaf. Then he went back to playing. This happened a handful of times and then it was eight thirty, nearly our bed time, so we thought it best to try to put him down again. After a story, I rocked him for a few moments and he was fast asleep. He did not even make a sound when I laid him in the crib.
Quietly Making Noise 
Linda – I love it. Josie and Noah sound very similar. It is amazing how many things we have changed around in hopes he’d sleeps through the night.
Wow, I feel you. I have reached the conclusion that Josie does not sleep thru the night because she is just…Hungry. We have tried tough love, changing every stitch of diaper and clothing, making her warmer, making her cooler, mood lighting, no lighting, Oragel, and ibuprofen. The girl just likes to eat. Maybe when they’re older we can send Noah and Josie on dates to all-you-can-eat buffets.
As Noah’s grandmother, I can attest to the fact that some of the stubborness must be inherited from his mother. However, her excuse was she wanted to do everything her older brother was doing–including staying up until his bedtime. Sometimes, I guess, the later bedtime is worth the sleep it provides the parents!
That has such a familiar ring to it. Toss in car rides and many walks up the gravel road pushing a baby carriage. I must have repressed the sleep deprivation part of it but we somehow managed to get through it. It looks as if Noah is developing his own personality and demonstrating that stuborness gene [does he get that from both sides or is it really an anamoly and a puzzzlement as to where it comes from?].