What's working this week

I don't want to get my hopes up but we are making good progress with sleep and naps.  Many of you may have no interest in my sleep comments so I have interspersed this posting with photos from the first month of Bodie's life to emphasize how for we have come.

Dave and I have been talking for a long time about when we were going to let Bodie "cry it out" at night instead of either feeding him or comforting him or both.  For the last two weeks it is obvious that Bodie isn't really that hungry when he wakes up at 2am.  So on Friday after Dave had a one day trip to Calgary we decided this weekend was the one.

Now I have to say that Dave has been a superstar with getting Bodie into a night time bed routine that has worked wonders with Bodie being able to settle himself and fall asleep.

On Friday night Dave and I had a long discussion covering all possibilities from Bodie sleeping through the night himself to Bodie crying for 4 hours straight.  We decided Dave would be on shift night one and I would put in ear plugs.  We also decided on the progressive waiting plan - go in after 5 minutes then every 10 minutes after that only to let Bodie know we were there and pat his back.  The trick is to reassure him so he can put himself back to sleep.

Friday night - At 10:30 Bodie started to cry.  I thought "if it is starting at 10:30 it is going to be a long night." I put in my ear plugs and Dave started to work his magic.  After only a few visits Bodie was asleep and slept until 7:30.

Saturday during the day Bodie had a long nap 2.5 hours with no problems with putting him to bed (following Dave's bed time routine).  

Saturday night - We were hopeful.  Dave agreed to take the night shift again.  Bodie woke up at about 3 and it took until after 4 before he finally fell back asleep but he did it.  Sunday naps were fine.

Sunday night - I was my turn to take a shift.  Dave had the ear plugs.  At 11:40 Bodie started to cry.  I waited 5 minutes and headed in.  I said a few reassuring words, patted his back for a moment and left.  Bodie started crying much louder.  I thought "here we go".  With in 3 minutes he was quiet, and within 10 minutes we were all back asleep and slept until 6:30.

Who knows what Monday night will bring, but we seem to be on a good track  If nothing else I feel more rested than I have in awhile.