Last Tuesday we(me) decided that we(me) needed to bite the bullet and stop letting Colin nurse at night. He often wakes up at night and screams. If I nurse him he goes right back to sleep until 7am. If I don't nurse him, he just screams. And I have to lay there listening to him scream. So in the interest of getting sleep, I usually just feed him and go back to sleep.
But I've known for awhile that him needing to be nursed in order to fall back asleep was going to come back to bite me.
And I've known we were going to have to do this eventually.
And, with the encouragement and prayers of my Bible Study ladies, I decided to just do it.
Now is the time. He is 25 pounds, after all, and clearly does not need the extra nourishment. He is almost a year old and should be past this.
So, last Tuesday we started. He screamed from 1:30am-3:00. The next night he screamed from 12:30am until almost 2:30. (By "scream" I mean "screaming and yelling his head off as loud as he can, eventually only going quieter because he is getting hoarse.")
Then the next night he slept!! SUCCESS! Whew! That was worth it! That wasn't so bad!
Yeah, right. The next night he was up for over two hours! And the next night. And the next night. And last night.
This is torture. I don't know how else to describe it. It is physically painful for me to hear him crying like that and do nothing. I've cried laying there listening to him. I've come so close to caving in. So close. Standing outside his door with my hand on the doorknob, trying to rationalize going in… The only thing that stops me is the thought that if I do go in, he will have cried all those nights for nothing.
I pray this ends soon. I'm just not sure how much longer I can do this.
About Melissa
I remember those nights. Both your baby and your milkducts screaming for relief.
I have no advice.
I sat in the hallway and cried right along with him.
Oh I’ve been there! My pediatrician told me it could take up to a week. It is truly physically painful to listen to your child cry like that. I will pray that this passes quickly so that you can all get some much needed rest. I can’t believe he’s 25 lbs. AEK is only 16!
We just finally did this last week with our now 18 mo. old. I too was putting it off (we tried when she was 12 mo. or so, too, and it didn’t work) b/c it was easier to (in our case) give her a cup of milk instead of letting her scream.
Thankfully for us the screaming this time only went on for 2 or 3 nights. Sorry, probably not what you wanted to hear.
Good luck. Maybe a white noise machine and some earplugs will drown out the screaming?
wow. More power to you! You all my heroes!
I couldn’t do it. I co-slept.
OH how I remember that torture. I tended to cave due to severe lack of zzzzz’s, but GOOD FOR YOU mama. it will pay off!!
I hope this won’t offend . . . please know I offer it only in the spirit of mama-sisterhood . . . Have you considered looking into Elizabeth Pantley’s No Cry Sleep Solution? She has one for older babies/toddlers, too. Just wanted to throw that out there. I know it’s hard.
Ohhh.. how I feel for you. The hand on the door knob, the tears shed in a cold, dark hallway. It does end. But I feel ya.
I bailed on this. Tried it for 3 nights with Drew (now almost 3) and it was horrible. He screamed and screamed and screamed–it literally sounded like he was next to my ear…or maybe in my head. Ugh. It was bad. I bailed. Now, I admit, he’s still not a great sleeper. He often gets up and comes in our room at night, actually often is an understatement. It’s almost every night. But, I don’t think he’d be any different if I’d let him “cry it out.” It’s just not him. My other 2 slept with no problems. But, Drew is a different kid with different needs. I hope it does work for you. But, if it doesn’t…don’t worry about it. It won’t last forever (I hope).
I understand! We put Jonah in a toddler bed because he was climbing out the crib. My sweet boy who USED to sleep all night, is now getting up and coming to our bed! He never wanted to sleep with anyone before, so I’m chalking it up to jealously of the new baby. Last night I had to take him back to his bed 3 times!
Good Luck!!! I’ll be thinking about you and Colin!
Praying for you!!!
This didn’t happen with the other girls?
Oh you poor thing- I hope it ends soon.
you have my sympathy– hope it works out…