Letting him cry it out

The sleepy eyed little culprit :)

Wow, Today I woke up feeling so spry and rested! It is amazing what a few consecutive hours of sleep can do for you! Camden slept 5 straight hours from 10 pm to 3 am last night and it was true bliss. Now you are probably thinking, that isn't the best nights sleep, but believe me...he hasn't slept this well in months!

This definitely constituted a blog post.

He has never been that great of a sleeper. I can count on one hand the number of times he has slept through the night and he is almost 7 months! He just would rather stay up, play and not miss a thing.

I have come to accept the facts but lately it has become quite unbearable for all of us. He truly reverted back to a newborn waking up every hour or two screaming for no reason and after the holidays and being held all the time, he did not want to sleep anywhere except in our arms. If I put him down he would wake up in minutes time!

So the past two weeks I have let him take naps in my arms and sleep the whole night in our bed but that didn't make things any easier. Some days he just wouldn't nap at all and then during the night he would wake up upset for no reason every hour. Sometimes he would be hungry sometimes not! It seemed like we never got a break.

We have been contemplating sleep training him but didn't feel like it would be worth it since we live in a 1 bedroom apartment and the fact that we will be moving in just a few weeks just did not make sense. We would probably have to do it all over again with the time change and new surroundings and what not. We figured we would just tough it out till then besides I was sure we would wake up all the neighbors through these paper thin walls...but after these two weeks we were at our wits end. I told Scott, "I don't think I can take 20 more days of this!"

We have tried to let him CRY IT OUT multiple times before, each time caving in because we couldn't take the crying. Before it felt like cruel and unusual punishment, but last night was different. We were ready, he was ready, the timing was right. He was bathed, fed and placed safely & snuggly in his bed...We were doubtful it would work but after 10-15 minutes of crying & screaming he was miraculously, peacefully sleeping! Scott and I looked at each other in disbelief. Miracles do happen!

It wasn't as hard this time to let him cry. My heart wasn't pumping out of my chest this time like it used to, listening to his sad cries, feeling guilty letting him just fend for himself. This time letting him cry it out felt like I was doing something important and necessary for my baby and we, the parents, were ready for the end product...Even though the first few minutes honestly felt like an eternity and peeking in to check on him tore at my heart a little (he looked like a mad little lamb trying to get out of his pen), I am proud to say we put an end to this madness and have seen the light!

We will see if we get the same or better results tonight*, but for now I am at least glad to say it has worked so far. He even took an hour morning nap & just went down for an afternoon nap in his own bed! Hooray! 2 solid naps in one day?! That never happens! All of a sudden I have so much free time. Sleeping baby =  happy baby, happy momma, happy family! Haha!

*I am happy to report that night 2 went swimmingly. After just 5 minutes of crying he was out. It is working well for nap times too. He only cries for 2-3 minutes and the boy sleeps! Yay!