Month 3
For those of you tuning in and keeping track of Patrick’s sleep progress.. We are going on ONE ENTIRE WEEK of him sleeping in his room, through the night! We did have one night where he had a couple wake ups, but I took him back to his room and he went straight to sleep. And the best progress, so far, has been that today he put himself to sleep at nap and bedtime. Meaning I was not in his room with him! YESSSSSSSSSS!!!!
The past 3 months have been the most exhausting time of my life. So many hours lost in his room. Begging him to sleep, waiting for him to sleep, being beat up by him. Countless tears from both him and I. So many days of being short tempered. So many days of remember the bad more than the good. I feel like a new woman. I have been waiting for this for THREE MONTHS! Three months is 90 days!
There was not some miracle technique that finally worked. And everyone said to be consistent. We were. We even changed plans and left early. We kept everything at the same times. Dinner, dessert and milk, tubby, pajamas, brush teeth, say goodnight to family members, read books, say goodnight. After that we tried to leave the room and put him back in quietly/CIO version. We tried staying in the room. We tried sleeping with him. It was always intense and it was always 30+ minutes. I had it the worst. “No, Mommy take you” (He means ‘take me’). Once I was finished reading and I would sit in his room, he had to be touching me.. a foot, a hand, his head.. something was always touching me. As if I would leave and he would never see me again!? Could that have been a thought in this little 21-23 month old’s head? Could he worry that Mommy would never come back? Does he know what forever means?
My husband was able to bring him into his room, after tons of crying because “mommy take you”. He would read to him and get him to lay down on the floor with him. Patrick would fall asleep within 20 minutes and dad would also get a catnap in. After Dad or I would get him to sleep he would wake up sometime between 10 & 11pm and then again between 3 & 4am. In the beginning of this saga, he would come out crying and then we’d have to sit in his room for 15 minutes again until he fell asleep. During month 3, He dropped the second wake up! After that, he decided that when he did wake up, he would take his bed with him. He would come into our room with his blanket and Gaff (his giraffe) and Grandpa Pa (a police lovey). We would turn him right back around and get him back into his bed. No more crying, just back to sleep.
We finally saw a light at the end of the tunnel, we just didn’t know how much farther it was going to be. Exactly one week before his 2nd birthday, he decided to sleep through the night. It has been such a great week. And of course, we reward him every morning with his marshmallows! To which he replies, “I sleep me own bed!”
Wish us well and wish us luck. We love our little boy, but we also love to sleep a full night!
Thanks for stopping by and reading my toddler sleep drama!
Christina