Breaking the Cycle - Day One

I am breaking down Dane's sleep cycle and building it back up so we both can start sleeping better. I think I am biting off more than I can chew with this task, but it has to be done or we are both going to go crazy!

The night started off at 7:00 when we just got done giving Dane his oatmeal and I nursed him. We went upstairs, put on his jammies, and I read him a story till about 7:45. He was not tired at all....earlier in the evening he slept from 2:00 - 5:00 - so I knew going into this that he wasn't going to be tired for his normal 7:30 bed time. Anyway, Darren came in and we layed Dane on the floor and quietly played with him and a stuffed animal. We didn't want to get him too excited, but we wanted him to wind down a bit and burn off some energy. Around 8:15 he started yawning and rubbing his eyes, so I swaddled him up and nursed him and rocked him to sleep. He slept pretty well in his crib till about 11:30 (which is a normal time for him to wake up, and this is a time I want to erase from his pattern). I let him cry until about 12:00...it was SO HARD to do! I ended up bawling and Darren stood by the nursery door so I wouldn't go in. Then I kept thinking, well maybe he is hungry? It has been 3.5 hours since the last time he ate, so I went in and picked him up and fed him. He ate like he never ate before!

I put him back in the crib around 12:15 wide awake and he whined a little bit but fell asleep after about 5 minutes. I thought - yes! I can go to sleep for at least another three hours and life will be good! Nope...not the case. Dane woke up at 1:30 and SCREAMED his little head off till about 2:30. He was still swaddled, so he was kicking his feet and ended up moving his body into the top right corner of the crib. Obviously this wasn't comfortable and he wasn't happy. SO, I went in and un-swaddled him...I didn't pick him up (go Nicki!) and just put my hand on him, and he started smiling and cooing. He wasn't going back to sleep anytime soon, the kid was wide awake!

I gave him a stuffed doggie and he was playing with it till about 3:30. He started to yawn and rub his eyes and whine...I let him cry for about 15 minutes, but then it has been about 3.5 hours since the last time he ate - so I fed him and again, he ate like he never ate before!

I put him in his crib half asleep at around 4:00 and he fell asleep right away. Yay! Maybe I can sleep for about 3 hours!! Nope....not going to happen. He woke up again at 5:30....At this point I am utterly exhausted, so I caved and grabbed him and put him in bed with me. We slept like...well...babies till 8:45....


Maybe tonight will be better? At this point I'd rather get up when he fusses and feed him because at least then I am only up for about 10 minutes....but I know in the long run this is good for both of us. And he still loves me today and doesn't remember that I let him cry last night....