Picking up where we left off...

Well, the last three months have really made their mark on Mabel's sleeping habbits. Mabel has never been a strong sleeper. At about five months I was so exhusted from her waking on average five times a night. Zack and I were both so tired during the day and I didn't know what to do to make it better. You just have no clue how to help a baby learn to sleep through the night and I hate hearing her cry...bad combination. I then bought a book and we used the technique to help Mabel sleep. It is a no-cry solution, but the reality is if you change the situation the baby will cry, but it isn't the "let the baby cry alone in the room" system either. It took a couple of weeks but we were amazed by the end of a month Mabel was sleeping through the night. She was going to bed the same time every night and waking the same time in the morning. It was a mirical!

Fast forward to now...the three months Mabel spent in that cast, plus the bad cold she had a couple of weeks ago really, really messed up all the progress we made with our sleep training. Well, now that the cast is gone and Mabel is use to her brace we are starting over with our sleep system...Mabel is not happy. Unhappy Mabel leads to unhappy Momma and then inturn unhappy Papa...not fun bedtimes right now. We started two nights ago cold turkey, although I did tell Mabel over and over again what I was planing...maybe she wasn't listening? So the new, or I guess old rules are back in play: No more nursing to fall asleep. No more nursing at night. When it is time for bed Mabel goes in the crib and that is it. Simple rules, hard to follow.

I can't stand hearing Mabel cry, espically when I know I can fix it. The first night she yelled at me for two hours because I wouldn't nurse her to sleep, but in my defence I nursed her for an hour and a half before we even went upstairs for bed, that is a lot of nursing! She tried to pull herself up in her crib, she was sitting and fell back. She cried, I cried, it was a mess. Last night was a bit smoother, she yelled at me for only 45 minutes because of the no nursing to sleep and in the crib rule - no tears just lots of yelling. I hate it, but I also need my sleep and laying on her bedroom floor with her for two hours a night waiting for her to fall asleep only to have her cry five minutes after I put her in her crib isn't working either. Well, we did it before we'll do it again...It is a lot harder now that she is 13 months, she can reach through her crib to try and touch me sweetly saying Mama. It kills me!

A very exciting and happier note is Mabel can sit. She pulls herself up to her piano to play and she can sit when she has something behind her. She's amazing, truely a resoursful girl! I can't get over how well she adjusts to things! Here's to hoping she adjusts to the sleep training again!