The good news is that we survived our first night of sleep training...barely.
Before I regale you with my tale of woe, I wanted to answer a question that a few readers have asked. I got a lot of inquiries about whether or not the Muffin Man and the Little Lady share a bedroom, which would explain my concern about her cries waking him up. They don't share a room, but their rooms are next door to each other, and our house has less insulation than a cardboard box, so sound carries easily. We do close both of their bedroom doors, and we use pretty powerful sound machines, but I think he hears her crying sometimes.
Now that we've cleared that up, we can get back to the issue at hand, which I like to call "sleep training: because mommy can't afford to have her eyes done".
I swear, it's like the Little Lady knew what we were up to and she decided to get back at us by waking up five times. Not two, as is her usual m.o., but five likes she's a freaking newborn or something. Oh my God it was painful. Having your sleep disturbed even one time a night is no picnic, but five times reminds me yet again why sleep deprivation is used as a torture tactic. I was so exhausted yesterday I would've totally caved under questioning in return for a full night's sleep.
On the plus side, the five wake up calls were really a test of our commitment to sleep training, and I am happy to tell you that we didn't cave. We didn't give her milk. We didn't hang out in her bedroom rubbing her back and singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. We stuck to the plan. We went in, gave her a pacifier and a blankie and then headed back to bed. Oh, she was mad alright. She tossed her pacifier around her crib like a rock star trashing a hotel room. She screamed and cried and stood at the end of her crib and bounced up and down in frustration. But you know what? It kind of worked. Yes, she woke up five times, but each time I only had to do the paci/blankie routine once before she fell back to sleep, which means that she never cried for longer than five minutes. I admit that in the middle of the night it felt like five hours, but I would guess her average crying jag went on for about three and a half minutes. Heck, I cried for longer than that after each of the four guys I asked to prom turned me down.
I will admit, however, that yesterday was a rough day. I'm not at my best when I've been woken up five times, and while it didn't initially seem as though Rose's wails disturbed the Muffin Man during our sleep training adventure, Noah was more tired and grouchy than usual. Rose wasn't in the best mood either, as she seems to appreciate a good night's sleep herself, so we were definitely one of the more motley crews at the playground yesterday afternoon. I'd like to give a quick shout out to caffeine for sponsoring my parenting on Wednesday.
So, did the sleep training work?
Well, last night, ROSE SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!!!
She woke up once, at about 9:30PM, and she cried out three times. I thought for sure we were in for another night of torture, but low and behold after she wiggled around in her crib a little bit (I was watching on the monitor) she got her pacifier back in her mouth and she fell right back to sleep. I don't know if she woke up again in the middle of the night, but if she did she certainly didn't cry out, because I enjoyed a restful, uninterrupted 11 hours of slumber.
I am a new woman, my friends! I can see how parenting becomes somewhat manageable, dare I say enjoyable, when Mommy is well-rested.
Will Rose repeat her superstar sleeping habits tonight? My God, I certainly hope so. But either way I promise to report back.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to use my new found energy to dance a little celebration jig at my desk.
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