We are undergoing some changes in the Life of a New Dad household. Braden had his one year doctor's visit recently and changes were ordered. The doctor says he should be off formula and drinking regular cow's milk now. He also said that he should be getting off the bottle.
We have now finished with all our formula. Of course we weren't going to throw away any of that powdered gold just because someone with a few letters after his name told us to. We went ahead and got our money's worth. Now it is all gone and we shall never buy it again, at least for Braden.
With the end of formula we have stopped giving Braden a bottle as well. He was weaning himself off the bottle anyway. He would only take a few ounces before he went to bed. I think the end of bottle feeding is a significant milestone. It seems like an official end to having a baby in the house. No more bottle must mean no more baby. Now we have a miniature human running about. He eats what we eat. He drinks what we drink. He is growing up fast.
The biggest change we are experiencing was not doctor mandated. Braden has stopped sleeping through he night. He goes to bed just fine at first. Then he sleeps for several hours. After that he wakes up and cries. Several nights Arica and I took turns sleeping with him. The main reason for that was to get some sleep ourselves. Neither of us was happy to revisit the sleepless life we thought we had left behind months ago. Finally last night we toughed one out until 2 am. We went in and reassured him a few times, and put his pacifier back in his mouth. Other than that we just waited him out. Finally he went to sleep.
I hope that our effort was not in vain. Hopefully it puts an end to Braden's crying for Mommy and Daddy during the night. We are taking several steps forward, but the loss of sleep would be an enormous step back. As the old country song says, nobody gets to far like that.
14 comments:
Aahh... the letting them cry it out stage. Always a fun stage. Good luck. Be strong. :)
I wanted to respond to Jill just to clarify something. We have already been through the crying it out stage. As a result we have had months of undisturbed sleep. That is why this is so disturbing. We don't want to revisit crying it out.
ugh. We are going through some bottle issues at our house. Mainly G does NOT want to lose the bottle.
Yes, they grow up so fast! We also quit using the bottle at one, but he only used it before nap and bedtime anyway. I think that's what made the transition easier.
Sleep. You know, we have also had a couple bouts of frequent waking with our little guy. I attribute it, usually, to teething. There were a couple nights that I brought him to bed with me just to get some sleep. Unfortunately (or fortunately) Ethan will not go to sleep anywhere but in his bed. We let him cry a couple times (we did cry it out way back, too) and he went back to sleeping. My friend has a 9 month old that has always slept well and he's been waking frequently lately, too. Maybe it's something in the air!
Hang in there.
Sounds like you know the drill. When we were going through this with HRH, several good and caring friends recommended Ferberizing. We bought the book, read it, did it. And it worked!
The thing that no one tells you is that you'll have to revisit it again and again. Most notably following sicknesses when they get Mom and Dad's undivided attention whenever they sniffle. Then it's back to bootcamp.
It does get easier (then harder again, then easier, then harder again)...
It's a tough place to be, but I have to admit that it made me happy to see that you and your wife are doing it together. Too often one parent gets stuck with all the sleepless nights. He'll start sleeping again soon... I hope! Good luck.
haha. my word verification: crynzygo
fits, huh?
feel for you man. we just revisited this with our 7 year old who was having night terrors about spiders in his blanket. lasted about 2 weeks until i made him some "spider spray" to keep by his bed. (water and a drop of febreeze for smell) this too will pass...congrats on the milestones!
Maybe he's teething? I do feel for you. It is wonderful to have your toddler sleep through the night. I have a 4 year old and he's slept through the night for a very long time now. But we're having baby #3 in a week and I'm really gonna miss the sleeping through the night. :)
I still wish you much luck. Always a guessing game of what to do isn't it!?
I hope that this is just a short live stage and that you are all sleeping well soon.
Unfortunately this is cyclical.
Will slept through the night pretty good and then all of a sudden he went a couple months where he wakes up at least once a night. You just have to grin and bear it, but I would not suggest doing what we did which was cave in in the name of sleep and allow him to sleep a couple hours in your bed. It was even harder to break him of that and we're just now coming out on the other side.
I feel your pain, my son has been having these fits every night for the last week where he's up and down between 11pm and 1am. Now you know why I have time to read :)
BTW, I tagged you over at my blog today.
I feel you on this. Shae is over 2 and she goes to bed fine (fine meaning we have to sit in her room until she falls asleep. We can't put her in her bed and leave cause she will freak out) but sleeps for like an hr or two in her bed then she is in our bed for the rest of the night. It sucks.
I do hope this crying is short lived and everyone sleeps happily ever after!
Been there, done that. Several times. There is light at the end of the tunnel... it's just a long tunnel and it's hard to see the end. Hang in there.
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