Self Proclaimed Sleep Training Sissy

So it turns out I am more of a sissy then I had originally thought. Sleep training is some serious stuff and this girl had no idea just what she was in for.  So before I admit to you that we had the strategy  all wrong and share our new strategy, I'll recap how nights 5 & 6 went down.

Night 5-

I was under the impression this would get easier as we went along...not the case. I think it's actually gotten worse. No wait, I know it has gotten worse. P was up at 1:00 a.m. like clockwork. We went through the soothe, put down, walk out routine 3 times, for a total of 39 minutes. On the fourth trip to his bedroom, the sissy (mommy) inside me gave in. I just couldn't take it anymore. I fed him. He slept till 6:30 a.m. 

I started to give my strategy some thought. Since he seemed to be truly hungry at 1:00 a.m, maybe I should switch the feeding I was trying to eliminate. Feed at 1:00 and soothe at 4:00. Easy peasy, right? Wrong!

Night 6- 

We were determined to win this little eating/sleeping game that P was playing with us. "We got this" or at least we thought we did. We were one step ahead of him tonight. We topped him off at 9:30 p.m. In an effort to hold him over. We settled into bed that night, with excitement. I was already dreaming of a good night's sleep. SUCKERS! Was the screaming I woke up to at 12:30 a.m.. Are you kidding me?!?! This kid plays to be so sweet and loving during the day. Endless cuddling, cooing, laughter...a mothers dream. Then the sun goes down and eating gremlin in him comes out. Better keep this guy away from water, there is no telling what would happen. We did the routine twice before I realized he was soaking wet. He had wet through his diaper. I changed his diaper and put fresh pajamas on him. Of course he was wide awake by now. Sissy night number 2. I fed him in hopes he would fall asleep. It was 1:30 a.m. when I finally crawled back into bed. Sure enough, I woke to crying about an hour and half later. This kid can't be hungry, there is no way! I went in and rocked him to sleep. Sissy mommy to the rescue. All the tactics out the window and I didn't give a rats ass! Who cares I had spent the last five nights following the rules and sticking to the tactics. Not tonight. I was rocking him back to sleep and not wasting a minute debating my decision. He woke a few other times, but was able to settle himself. He slept till about 6:15 a.m..

Why was this not working? What were we doing wrong? Is this more than an eating issue? Was he teething? Going through a growth spurt?

Now back to the part where I admit that I was going about this all wrong...  

I was at my wits end. Nobody was sleeping and it was starting to take its toll on the house. I decided to call my good friend Michelle. I remember she had been through something similar with her youngest son earlier this year. I brought her up to speed on the last week. Then she dropped a bombshell. "Have you ever heard of the 4 month sleep regression? " she asked. The what? "Google it," she said. Well I did and it's for real. Aka "Wonder Week" or in my words, "hell!" I found some great information/explanation about this "regression" on a site called The Baby Sleep Site. So at least now, I have a better understanding of what has been going on. 

The second part of our conversation focused on my sleep training strategy. My goal was to eliminate the middle of the night feelings. Michelle was quick to point out that I was going about it all wrong. Yes, it was important for P to learn to soothe and put himself back to sleep, but my strategy was not going to help eliminate the feelings. What I really needed to be doing was weaning him off the feelings. Basically start giving him less formula each night he woke to feed so eventually he'd realize it wasn't worth waking to eat the little I was going to feed him. Sounds logical & besides what did I have to lose? 

That night (Wednesday) began our new strategy. I fed him 6 ounces at 1:15 a.m. and he slept till 6:15 a.m.. SCORE! I'll take that every night.

Last night (Thursday) wasn't as successful. I went out to a friends house for a much needed MOMs Night Out & some wine! I got home a little after 10:30 p.m.. Everyone was in bed. The Mister had fed P a 6 ounce bottle at 10:00 p.m., so I was hopeful. Ughhhhh, wish I had better news to report. P was up at 12:45. I fed him a 5 ounce bottle, one ounce less then the night before. He ate and went back to bed. At 4:15 he was awake and crying. I went him to soothe and rock him to the point of where he was falling asleep, but not fully asleep (this is how we put him down to bed). I put him back in the crib and went back to bed. Twenty minutes later he was up. Went back in and did the same only to get the same results. At this point, it was almost 5:00 a.m.. With blank stares, the mister and I just laid  there looking at each other. The mister volunteered to go down stairs to feed and put him in the swing with the hopes of him falling asleep. Just as he got up to get P. O woke up from all the commotion. 

Needless to say, it's been a very long day. I am not convinced that there isn't something else going on, like teething. He is constantly eating his hands, drooling like a Saint Bernard and I can't ignore the foul diapers he's had the last few days.

We will continue on with the "weaning method" and see where that takes us. While this might seem like one big rant to some of you, you're right. It kind of is. Sometimes it just feels good to talk about our frustrations and challenges. I love this little moose to the moon and back. If this is the way things shake out for us, then so be it. I am in for the long haul!