I am fighting off some kind of illness. Thankfully it's just a little sore throat, headache, being tired and just feeling blah! Unfortunately, I am also working on getting sleep. We were doing ok for a short time, then last night, when I felt my worst, Michael and Eva Rose just did not want to sleep. I have thought about trying CIO, have thought about attachment parenting ways of getting them to sleep, and have kept them on schedule so that their sleep would not be disrupted. I am not a huge fan of the CIO, since I can't handle letting them cry and am afraid that I will end up with 3 screaming kids. I am more of the attachment parenting camp, but last night, I had to let both Michael and Eva Rose CIO. They both had all their needs met, they were actually up for awhile because I couldn't get them to sleep, and to my dismay, Michael actually came to bed with me. I know he is getting to upper teeth and he is not eating well at all. I think Eva Rose is teething, but I can't see any new teeth coming in. As much as I don't like it, I may need to do CIO from now on just to get some sleep. The twins have been sleeping from 8-6 and taking 2 good 1-2 hour naps a day. Michael is taking 1 2 hour nap and sleeps from 8:30- 8:00 am, but with a wake up through the night. I can't figure out what is the right answer. I need my sleep, but I hate hearing my babies scream. And I don't run in at the first scream, I do let them cry a little before I go in.
I guess every day is a new lesson. Nothing in life is black and white!
Now off to figure out how to decorate for the holidays!
Amy
If it's any consolation, the idea is that they will only cry for a few nights and then you won't have to do this again, at least not the same way. I will say that as they get older, it does get harder to do, so if you decide to do it, the sooner the better. Good luck whichever way you go!
ReplyDeleteThe CIO method is very, very tough on the heartstrings, but for us (at 9 months) it only took 3-4 nights and then we were set. We've only had interrupted sleep once since then, and that was when the kids were sick with a stomach bug.
ReplyDeleteIt's tough to get past the thought that if you let one cry the other(s) will have disrupted sleep too. But our thinking was this (passed on from another MOT)- they're going to share a room for a long time (no way around it), so they have to get used to sleeping through each other's noises. Sometimes, in the middle of naptime, my daughter will cry for 2-5 minutes (sometimes at the top of her lungs) and my son just sleeps right through it (and vice versa as well).
I hope it works for you, and you get some well deserved sleep!
Whatever you end up doing, stick with it for 3-5 days. While we are a fully AP/no cry family, I don't think that sometimes letting them cry and sometimes not, is a good choice. They need consistency whichever method you finally decide is right for you.
ReplyDeleteFinally, don't forget that no cry doesn't mean they never cry, just that we don't let them cry alone and at my house at least, crying is defined as full scale crying. We never rushed in at the first mumble and fuss for fear of bringing on full scale crying.
I hope you get some sleep soon!!