The Crib

We finally made the transition to the crib this weekend. We never intended on waiting this long but when his colic was so bad, we had nothing left in us at night and for the past 6 weeks he has slept in his swing for bedtime and all naps. Not a habit I'd recommend, but we had to do what we had to do. And I am learning to never say never with a little one.

Anywho, Friday night was the first night we planned on putting him in his crib. We wanted to start this on a weekend when Paul didn't get home so late and we could do it together. I've recently read the book The Sleep Easy Solution, and the sleep learning plan it teaches is not supposed to start until 4 months. The plan includes teaching your baby how to fall asleep and stay asleep, but also teaches how to wean during the night feedings. Although Gray is only three months, we aren't going to start weaning him from night feedings yet but figured we could put the other info into practice. I enjoyed reading the book and agreed with most of what it says. One biggie is to always put your baby down awake. We'd actually been doing this, but he was in his swing so it was easier for him to fall asleep on his own. When we first put him in his crib Friday night, he had this pitiful terrified look on his face. I realized immediately that we had not spent nearly enough time in his room or in his crib leading up to this switch. Big mistake number one. He is so aware of his surroundings now and he really seemed afraid and confused. Lesson learned there! I am already taking lots of notes for baby number two (not that we plan on that happening ANY time soon!). I decided until he was more comfortable we needed to rock him to sleep before putting him in the crib. Big mistake number two. He didn't stay asleep longer than 30 minutes and every time he'd wake up he seemed scared. I think it was mainly because he had not put himself down and when he'd wake up he didn't even know where he was. I was not comfortable letting him cry it out at all because I truly felt like he was afraid and confused. By 2:00 a.m. we gave in and put him in the swing. He slept for six hours. I'm not sure if that was mistake number three or if mistake number one allowed for us to change our minds the first night. I felt awful and like we'd confused him even more.

So Saturday we spent a lot more time playing in his crib and he even took one nap in it, but was put down already asleep. But we knew we had to put him down awake or we'd never get anywhere. We realized there was no way to put him down awake and not do some form of cry it out. You might be thinking Gray is too young to cry it out but 1) he has done far more crying even while being held that your typical baby and 2) our pediatrician said it was fine to let him cry for up to 15 minutes or so without any touch or talking to him and we could do more if he could hear or see us some during it. So that night we put him down awake. And he cried. A lot. We went in every 5-10 minutes at first, then every 10-15 minutes and talked to him to let him know we were there, especially since we still thought he was a little afraid of his new environment. The book recommends that when you go in their room for a check in, that you do not touch them at all because it teases them and they think you are going to pick them up. We didn't touch him every time, but a few times we just patted him a little and it honestly seemed to help and not make it worse. As much as I agree with that part of the book, I also believe things need to be modified according to Mama and Daddy's instincts (though of course we are wrong often). He ended up crying off and on for an hour and then finally fell asleep. I thought an hour was pretty good, considering the number of hours he has cried WHILE being held on so many nights before. I was glued to the monitor for another hour or so, struggling with all kinds of emotions...did he feel neglected? Was he mad at us? Was this going to scar him for life? Next thing I knew I woke up and it was 5:00 a.m.!!! I was scared to death and ran in to make sure he was still breathing. He hadn't eaten since 8:30 and had been asleep since about 10:00. He woke up shortly after that, ate and we put him back down awake. He cried for about 10 minutes, we went in once for a check in and then he was out. He woke up about 40 minutes later and we let him cry again, going in only twice for check ins. He cried for only two-three minutes that time and then slept until 8:30! We were so proud! I went in his room to get him as soon as I started hearing him on the monitor and as soon as I peaked over his crib, he gave me the biggest gummy grin. It was just what I needed after worrying about him so much the night before.

Sunday I had a baby shower to go to so Daddy put him down for his nap after church. He cried less than five minutes and then slept for almost four hours! Last night we went to Lindsey's house for a three month photo shoot and it wore him slap out. He was so tired when we got home that he wouldn't even nurse before going to bed. After about 45 minutes of crying, I couldn't take it anymore. I didn't want to mess things up and get him out, but I knew he had to be hungry and had probably changed his mind about not wanting to eat. So we decided to give him a bottle because we could give it to him in his crib and would only have to get him out to burp him. He chugged the bottle and then he was out and slept until almost 5:00 this morning. After eating he only cried for about five minutes and slept again until 8:30.

I put him down for nap number one this morning and he did not cry AT ALL!!! He cooed and looked at the ceiling fan for about fifteen minutes and then fell asleep. It was the best feeling! I really think that once he starts getting consistent, good, long sleeps, it will help with his mood during the day. He was great last week as long as were home. Now we've got to work on the car issue and being away from home. One step at a time!

Our pediatrician kept telling us that he really thought we'd start seeing major changes around 12 weeks. Looks like he was right. He was 13 weeks yesterday. Thank you Lord for helping our sweet boy turn a corner!

Three month post coming soon. For now, enjoy the previous post beach pics of our sweet boy.