Wordless wednesday 91

The Night-time Escapades of Sumayah

Yesterday we were out all day for a picnic so Sumayah didn't sleep and then of course fell asleep in the car on the way home. I tried waking her a few times when we got home but she was too tired so I knew she wouldn't be able to fall asleep at her usual bedtime. So she and I were lying in bed watching one of my favourate movies, 'The Wedding Planner', me hoping that she will grow sleepy. Skip forward a few hours to midnight, the whole house was dark and quiet, everyone fast asleep...or so I thought. When I turned off my night light to sleep Sumayahs room was quiet so I assumed she was sound asleep in her bed. But I was rudely awoken from my deep sleep when I heard her walking into the room just past midnight with no top on looking like casper the ghost! At first I thought she had gotten her hands on the powder again, but as she approached me I realised that she was in fact smothered in cream, all over her torso! I was partly too sleepy, partly too amused, partly too flabagasted to have any sort of angry reaction to this. When I took her back to her room to clean her up I discovered that what was left in the the 400g tub of aqueous cream was not only all over Sumayahs torso and face, but also on her pillow, her sheets and her duvet! What amused me the most was that this was all done in sneaky silence in a dark room. And this is not the first time either. You see I have been battling with Sumayahs sleep habit for all of her little life. For quite some time we managed to cut the night wakings to just one per night, quickly resolved with a measly 75ml sip of milk. This I could accept, the real problem was getting her to fall asleep in the first place. I would find myself lying in her room for sometimes 2 hours before she slept usually only at about 10. This caused havoc with my nightime marking. But finally this week I tried to implement the sleep training again and within one night she was allowing me to leave her room and she would stay in her bed till she fell asleep. It was like she was just ready, so there were no tantrums only a lot of back and forth putting her back into bed the first night. I guess because she understands alot more now so I could actually use reasoning rather than behaviour modification. But of course in between we had out 'incidences' one of them much like the one I described from last night. She was in her room with the light off talking to herself as usual and then finally it was quiet. We were in bed with the rugby on very softly and I can see her room door from my bed. So I thought it was safe to assume that she was asleep...again, I was mistaken. When we finally turned off the tv and lights to go to sleep I heard a faint sound coming from her room at about 11.30. I decided to investigate only to discover Sumayah sitting on the floor of her dark room with all the toys unpacked from the toy chest, her clothes unpacked from her chest of drawers and scattered all over her bed, and Sumayah with one of her pants halfway up her one leg. When she saw me she casually said, 'Mommy, I'm dressing' as though it was the most natural thing in the world for her to be doing at this hour! Yes, this is Sumayah, our little alien ;)

insomnia strikes again!

1.5 hours! That's how long it took for Sumayah my little insomniac to fall asleep! I cannot describe what that feels like to me. It starts with annoyance, then progresses to irritation, which mounts into frustration, till I become so overwhelmed that I just want to cry! About an hour after trying everything from walking with her to sitting to lying, with rocking and patting to singing and praying, and still watching her eyes droop and roll but never shutting... At this point I normally tell myself that if she's not sleeping within the next 15 minutes I'm giving up. Only to find myself half an hour later still trying and eventually she does fall asleep. But there' been times when I have found myself feeling hopeless after 2 hours of feeling frustrated alone in the dark and then just bringing her out of the room awake and ready to play! What adds to the frustration is that there doesn't seem to be a logical reason that she struggles to fall asleep. She's not crabby... On the contrary, she lies quietly and you can see her teetering on the edge of blissful slumber but no amount of pushing on my part will get over to fall in. Her eyes will roll close momentarily, sparking in me some hope, only for her to roll her lids back up again. I really don't know what to do about this except to hope that she will outgrow this problem... Hopefully soon!

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Thump in the night!

During the course of the night Sumayah usually ends up in bed with us. I really don't mind, but now that we are fasting and need to wake up at 4.30am to eat breakfast before the sun rises, it can pose a slight problem. Let us take this morning as an example. When the alarm went off, Sumayah was sound asleep in the bed and we were left with the predicament... do we leave her undisturbed in the bed knowing that she may roll off or wake for her bottle and fall off?... or do we pick her up to put her in her cot and risk waking her and end up with a little bright-eyed girl sitting regop at the breakfast table at 4.30 in the morning asking for a slice of our toast?

I looked at Yaasier and mouthed out quietly, "do you think we can leave her in the bed?" He nodded yes and that was that. I placed the pillow around her and we went downstairs. About half hour later while enoying a pastrami sandwich, we heard a Thump! Yaasier and i looked at each other and Yaasier asked, "Did Sumayah just fall off the bed now?" which was immediately followed by the sound of Sumayah crying. i flew up the stairs faster than I knew possible and when I entered the dark room I saw the shape of a tiny head on the other side of the bed looking around the room.

Shampies man she looked so small and vulnerable, but actually wasn't crying much. I don't think she really got hurt, more just of a fright and very annoyed. So we darem ended up sitting with her at the breakfast table, poor thing!

Spoke too soon?

So as I feared, my celebrations on yesterday's post was a little premature. Last night the sleep battles resumed. The funny thing is when I was putting her to sleep for the night I already knew what kind of night was ahead. This time it wasn't related to the separation anxiety I don't think. When I was putting her to sleep it was just clear that she was very restless. No amount of rocking or swaying could get her to calm down enough to fall into a deep sleep. So naturally at around 10pm she was awake again. I was on the phone with a friend so Yaasier went up and put her back to sleep. But I knew right there and then what kind of night was awaiting me. Even when I picked her up and held her in my arms in the bed, she still couldn't sleep. Her eyes would be closed, but she wasn't asleep. Eventually at about 2.30am I went downstairs to give her some rescue remedy and then got back into bed and slept with her in my arms the rest of the night. Of course the last thing I needed was to be told this morning that I should keep the volume down because I am disturbing the neighbours with my frustrated moanings that Sumayahs should "just shut up and sleep for god's sake " and stomping down the stairs and angry closing of cupboard doors in my frustration. Now mind you I know the house is very quiet so all my annoying sounds are amplified, but was I really loud enough to wake the neighbours? I don't think so... maybe to disturb the people who are warm and snug under the blankets in my own house yes, but I hardly think I was 'shouting' or 'banging' doors. So naturally this morning I was in a rather foul mood.

But I made myself a good brekkie and have turned to ranting to the blogosphere to calm me down. Now for a lovely long hot shower and I will be ready to face the day.

Touch Wood

Touch wood that I am not blogging about this too soon... you know how it is that you are happy about something and just when you talk about it or write about it, something changes and your news is negated. Well hopefully that's not gonna happen here. See for the past 2 nights Sumayah has been sleeping ... fairly well. On Saturday night I found that everytime she cried, if she saw me peering over at her she just put her head back down and slept on, confirming the whole separation anxiety theory. So I opened the side cover of her camp cot so she could see me through the netting and evertime she cried out I put me hand against the net and shusshed her back to sleep. It actually worked quite well and the best part was that I didn't have to get out of bed. Ok so maybe I had to lie very low down on the bed and practically hang over the side with my arm freezing in the cold night air, but at least I got some shut-eye!

Then last night I rearranged our furniture slightly so that her camp cot is more alighned with my bed and her sleeping position corresponds with mine. And surprise surprise I think that may have done the trick. She slep through the witching hour and only started being restless from about 1.30 am. She never really woke up, only cried out slightly in her sleep and I could simply stretch out my arm and say 'sshh' and she would sleep on. She only woke at about 5am when I brought her to the bed and gave her a bottle.

Now here's to hoping that this can continue for ever more!

Separation Anxiety

It is as though Sumayah has read the manual! According to Baby Sense, "This is the age when separation anxiety starts, and (she) will exasperate you with (her) fickleness of mood. One minute (she) will be playing quite happily on (her) own, and the next (she) will be sobbing inconsolably if you move out of (her) line of vision."

I really though that with me striking the perfect balance between being a part stay-at-home, part working mom, she would overcome her separation issues. When I leave in the morning she is perfectly fine as long as Abegail distracts her when I leave. Yet when I am home with her there are times when she is totally engrossed in her own little play world that she couls care less where I am, and then most other times I can't even move round a corner to reach for something without her crying.

I have come to realise that this may also be the root of our sleeping woes. Yes they still continue. I have not blogged about it for a while because I resumed sleep training last week and was hoping that I could reveal my success after the fact and bring about a change of tone to my blog from gloomy to hopeful. Well it was going well initially. She started taking full 2 hour naps in the day! Night times still had its hourly wakings, but all she required was a little pat and her dummy.

And then, of course, she developed tonsilitis! So all sleep training progress was thrown out the window and I now have to wait for her to be fully recovered before I can start all over again! Of course it doesn't help that I too have a cold, so does Yaasier (even worse that mine) and Bilaal recovering from a cold too!

She has become so clingly I have even dug out the old Baby Sense sling and find myself washing dishes with her in the 'hip hold' position. I really am at my wits end with this whole sleep story. Earlier I read a post on The Reluctant Mom's Blog that was so painfully truthful and honest and I was soooo glad I read it. Sometimes as moms we feel so alone guilty when we experience negative emotions and thoughts toward our children because not only because we love them, but because we are afraid that we will be judged as inadequate, a failure, a bad mother... when really we should realise that ALL moms experience negativity at some time during motherhood. And it is in realising that and confronting the ugliness of our emotions that we are able to seek help. So once again Reluctant Mom... Thank you for your honesty!

Woe is Me!

For those of you who are regular readers of this here blog, you may have been wondering where I've been. I won't lie and say I haven't had time to blog because there have been many opportunities. Nor can I say I haven't had anything to blog about... nothing can be further from the truth. It's just that I was beginning to be a bit of a complain pot which is totally not the spirit in which I started this blog. There's also been so much going on with the kids that I found myself craving moments of doing-nothingness where every chance I go, however few I would just sit and watch t.v.

But you know what? I realise that I have every right to be a complain pot in this space, because it is after all my space. So what's been going on you ask? Last week Bilaal had a tummy bug again. Fortunately it was only coming out the top end, changing bedding and pjs 3 times during the night is no fun, especially if in between you have an insomniac of a baby screaming her lungs out every hour. Then Wednesday Bilaal was back at school and what do you know... Sumayah starts. Now at first I thought she caught the bug from him, but then it became clear that this was no bug, She wasn't vomitting consistently during the , no fever and she was actually quite constipated. So all she ate for 2 days was banana, jam sandwiches and juice. Finally she seemed to improve, then Friday night Bilaal vomitted, followed by Sumayah the next morning. So Saturday we traipsed off to the doctor. The verdict? Both of them are fine! She gave me scripts for antibiotics for both of them in the event they didn't improve the next day. Bilaal didn't need his, but even though Sumayah only vomitted her milk once the next day, the monday I went to get her the antibiotics. I have become an expert at mopping up grotesquely large amounts of projectile vomit!

Now let's not neglect the whole sleeping saga. I am pleased to report that Sumayah is no longer so much an insomniac as she is a restless sleeper. Now when she wakes every hour I can at least get her to sleep again as soon as I pop the dummy in. I have realised though that it is not actually the dummy that soothes her, but rather me giving her the dummy that does the trick, because even though she sleeps, the minute my head hits the pillow she cries again. So to avoid the cold of winter biting at my toes in the middle of the night I have resorted to bringing her to the bed. This of course is not really a solution, because it's not as if she sleeps through the night when she's in the bed. She still cries every hour or so, but at least she's right next to me so I can simply pat her back to sleep. The good news is the whole vomitting saga seems to be under control now!
But still... woe is me!

Sleep Saga Chronicles continued

Things seem to be improving a weeee bit. On Sunday we had a lovely picnic at the park for a friend's birthday. The last good sleep Sumayah had was 10am the morning for about an hour (pleasant surprise!) and after that she had about a 15 minute nap at about 2.30pm and no matter how hard I tried she simply would not have her late afternoon nap. So one would think with the lack of sleep and all the fun excitement of the beautiful outdoors that she would have no problem sleeping when night fell... well you thought wrong. We didn't have the grace period of the witching hour. Madam decided to wake from 9pm onward for every hour and then from 10.30pm itt was just impossible to even get her to fall into a light sleep. I would be walking up and down in the dark with her for an hour and she would be staring up at me with big bright eyes. Not even drowsy or droopy! Now I know the Baby Sense will tell you that an overtired, overstimulated child becomes hyperactive and unable to settle into a restful sleep... but come on... 4 hours later surely she should at least be showing signs of sleepiness after being rocked and bobbed and patted and swayed?! Only at about 3.30am did she decide that she was now tired and just dozed off... in the bed of course.

So yesterday I bought some rescue remedy thinking that maybe she just has a very restless mind and needs something to calm her at night. That is something other that the whole Baby Sense precribed 'setting the stage for sleep' routine I have been following to no avail. So last night still presented some sleep problems but not as bad. She woke a few times before midnight again, but was definately sleepy enough to pat her to sleep in her cot. Finally she had a good stretch of sleep from 10pm till the midnight witching hour. I picked her up and patted her to sleep on my chest in our bed, but then put her back in the cot and what do you know she actually slept through till 5.45am! Now I don't know if it was the rescue remedy that did the trick or something else I may have done differently last night, but I sure am going to use the homeopathy again tonight! 

More sleepless nights!

I tried walking with her, sitting, rocking, I tried patting and swinging, I tried singing, humming, shoosing and silence, I tried lying in the bed with her on my chest, and I tried putting her between us in the bed, I tried patting her in the cot, I tried leaving her in the cot... I tried every trick I could think of, but 1 hour turned into 2 hours, turned into 3 hours and still no sleep!

Okay so this happened on Wednesday night and then again last night. I think what is aggravating an already restless sleep situation is that the top tooth is on the verge of breaking through the gum and this is causing cramps with runny tummy. So I found myself on Wednesday night so frustrated and at my wits end that I said to Sumayah, "Right, if you are not interested in sleeping then let's stay up!" and I stormed downstairs with her at about 11.30pm with the intention of going online and venting through my blog. To my shock and horror I discovered that Yaasier and I had completely forgotten about the dishes. Ordinarily if it was only a few things I would've just given an 'oh well' shrug and left it for the next morning, but this was a mountain of cooking and dinner dishes and I just have this obsession with not leaving the kitchen in such a state over night. So there I was at 11.30 at night washing dishes, while Sumayah happily sat in her feeding chair and watched me. Yep the little bugger didn't make a squeak, she was totally satisfied with our little midnight 'party'. Then just as I was wrapping up thinking that she should be lekker sleepy now... she vomited! Not alot, but just enough chunks of her supper to have to remove the whole feeding chair cover carry her with the cover and the rag doll she vomitted on carefully upstairs to sort out in the bath. Now there was no room for feelings of anger and frustration at this point because I was feeling so sorry for my poor little girl who had to be stripped down in the cold of the night and rinsed off and changed into clean pjs! She was crying so bitterly and I worked as quickly as possible to get her warm and cosy again. Once she was warm and settled I had to give the items in the bath a rinse before finally going back to bed. At least the whole ordeal tired her out enough to fall asleep... in our bed of course!

Well, the same sleep battles occurred last night, but this time I didn't get to go downstairs for a midnight 'party'... no, at about 12.30 I realised Sumayah was making a no.2 and knowing that she has the squirts, I lifted her up, and thank god I did that, because she made such a monstrosity that it was spilling out the side of her nappy all down her pj pants and fortunately my fast action mommy manoevre prevented it from dirtying the bedding (although one chunk did make its way onto the carpet!). So back we were in the bathroom playing out our little midnight wash scenario and the added  excitement of cleaning the little mess on the carpet too.

At 2am we finally got some shuteye.. in the bed of course! Let's see what drama tonight holds shall we?!

The Witching hour returns!

This is going to be a very watered down version of the post I was actually writing in my head at 2am this morning. But after a hot cup of tea and lovely french toast I have calmed down somewhat and am therefore typing with less anger and frustration. So what is the object of my frustrations.... Sleep of course... or rather lack of it! After the success of my sleep training at the start of the year, I was pretty impressed with myself for 'dealing' with the hot topic on every mother's lips... getting baby to sleep through the night. Of course I knew that teething would cause some unsettled nights, but I didn't expect it to toatally undo all the sleep training I put us through! For the past 3 months itt has been getting progressively worse. From waking every 3 hours only needing the dummy  to sleep again, to waking every hour from midnight onward - hence the tittle of this post. Like clockwork, on midnight the restless sleep kicks in. Most nights its simply: she cries, I put the dummy in her mouth, I get back into bed, repeat. Most nights it's pretty automatic, literally following the process in my sleep. But every few nights I have one like last night.

Where she just  can't fall back to sleep, not wide awake, clearly wanting to sleep, but just not able to cross that bridge over into deep sleep. Worst still she doesn't want me to pick her up, she is very happy with me leaning over the side of the cot with my hand on her back. Her eyes would be closed, she seems to be sleeping I've been standing like this for 15 minutes already so I think maybe I can creep back into bed... oh no! The minute I  move my hand from her back she opens her eyes to peer at me throught the darkness. The minute I put my hand back she closes her eyes again. When it gets to 2am, I'm cold, my back is sore, I'm getting pins and needles in my arm from hanging over the cot, I'm tired and when I remove my hand from her back and she looks at me and claps her hands... yes claps! that is truly the last straw I tell you. This is when I use all a manner of obscenities under my breath, feel like shouting at Sumayah, feel  like crying with tiredness and frustration, feel like putting earplugs in and dumping her in the cot to cry it out....

Deep breaths...5,4,3,2,1... lift her gently from her cot and bring her to the bed at the risk that she will now be wide awake and want to play (it's happened before!). Surprisingly she lies quietly between Yaasier and I tossing and turning a little bit until hey presto! she is asleep. Still only lightly, so still needing the occasional pat on the back, but at least I am snug as a bug under the covers so I finally get a little shuteye!

Insomnia!

I think Sumayah has insomnia. Last night at about 2.30am she woke up and just couldn't fall back to sleep. We tried rocking, walking, shushing, singing, reciting prayers, sitting, lying, leaving her to cry... but the little bugger just wouldn't drop off. The eyes kept drooping and rolling and she seemed quite settled and content on the arm, but she just couldn't cross the bridge into that blissful state of deep sleep. On top of that Bilaal had a slight tummy bug... again! and since he is not yet proficient at cleaning his own poepgatjie, every hour he would come into the room announcing that he was going to make a number 2 so that I would know to be on bum cleaning alert! I think I only got some shut-eye at about 5am?! Madame eventually fell asleep in our bed with alot of tossing and turning in her sleep, yet she still managed to wake up at 6.30am ready for breakfast. Now given her lack of nightly slumber one would assume that her usual morning nap would happen easily, but Nay! The little insomniac managed to skip her nap all together until she evetually just dropped off at about 12h30, just when I wanted to give her lunch. She was so tired even when I lifted her out of the car she carried on sleeping  in a head-upright position. But don't breathe a sigh of relief yet, because this beauty sleep only lasted about 30 mins! Aha as we speak she has just woken up from her afternoon nap after only about 30 mins again. Better go see if I can get her to drift off for at least another 20 min? perhaps? maybe?

Lay down your sleep head...

The other day when the dstv was out, we found ourselves watching a bunch of home movies from when Bilaal was a baby. With all this talk about sleep and sleep training, I thought I'd share an extract of one of the videos, where Bilaal is falling asleep all on his own. Of course this was the one and only time he ever did this as a baby! It's actually quite funny if you could see me trying to get it on video. I didn't want him to see me so I was hiding next to the cot holding the camera up just enough to capture him without him seeing the camera. Although the clip is only about 3 minutes, in total it took him about 10 minutes to fall asleep. Enjoy!

Tonsilitis Monsterlitis

On Tuesday I got a call from Bilaal's teacher saying that she has a very sad boy with her who says he's eyes are burning and he is not feeling well. So I fetched him from school. He didn't have a fever or any cold or flu symptoms, but he did say that it felt like "there are speedbumps in my throat".

My immediate reaction was that he was probably coming down with a throat infection so I gave him a medicated fruit lolly and straight to bed. Now the strange thing is he was already on an antibiotic because the previous week he had an insect bite on his leg that became infected - cellulitis! Needless to say this didn't stop the nasties in the air! He slept nicely and still seemed ok, just tired when suddenly at about 5pm he's temperature spiked to 39 degrees and started crying bitterly that he's throat was burning. I quickly phoned the doctor who prescribed his antibiotics last week. Of course all the doctors rooms were closed already,so she advised that I just try to bring the temp down and monitor him through the night and if he didn't improve to bring him in the next morning.

What a long night. He just got worse and the temp just wouldn't come down. He was medicated, i gave him a sponge bath, I slept in his bed for most of the night with a damp cloth and a fan on, I even tried homeopathic stuff... nothing. Of course it didn't help that Sumayah kept waking up too so I was like a yo-yo between the two rooms all night. The very next morning I took him to the doctor and what do you know... those 'speedbumps' in his throat couldn't be a more apt description for Tonsilitits!

So my poor baby has been pretty much miserable with his throat speedbumps. Every so now and again he would just suddenly cry out in pain when he's throat suddenly burns. Anyone with kids I would recommend you get 'Viral Forte' throat lollies, they really do help with sore throats and yet appealing to the kids.

Secret Weapon of Sleep

The sleep training has been going well again. Last night Sumayah only woke once and only cried for 10 minutes before sleeping again all on her own. But I think alot of it has to do with my new secret weapon of sleep.

Sleep Training Night 4

It feels like all that was done was undone last night. Sumayah woke up at the usual midnight witching hour and then again at 1.30am... then again at 2.30am... 4am... 5am...
Finally at 5.30am I fed her and she slept again till 6.30am in the bed! What happened you ask?
Well I broke all the rules that's what! I broke, crumbled, caved in... you get the picture. I just couldn't endure the crying last night so I kept giving her the dummy and yes even picking her up. But you know what i am not despondent and I shall not give up on my quest for a good night's sleep.

Tonight when I put her in her cot, when she started crying I just sat with her until she fell asleep - only 15 minutes in total. I'm quite pleases with this, so let's hope I can be stron-willed enough tonight if she wakes up again.

Sleep Training Night 2 & 3

I haven't had time... correction... I've been lazy to update my blog regarding the whole sleep training debacle, but here goes. Night 2 went pretty well. We broke the rules slightly in the beginning, because she's just so warm and cuddly so the closeness and affection is often for our own benefit too! So anyway she fell asleep lying on Yaasier's chest, but of course not long after he put her in the cot she woke up crying. Surprisingly I was very calm and relaxed about the whole thing. I don't know if the previous night just gave me confidence that it could be done? So anyway, I picked her up for hardly even a minute just to comfort her then put her back down drowsy but awake. She fussed a little, but I kept my hand on her and susshed a little and hey presto! lala land! I can't remember what time this was, but the next time she cried was about 1.30am. She may not have lasted as long as the previous night, but it didn't require much to get her to sleep again... just a light pat and a sush and in minutes she was sleeping again. She woke again at about 4am with the same results, till finally when she woke at about 7am, I fed her.

Night 3 was a real success in my eyes. I discovered that she finds comfort playing with the label on the corner of her comforter. So when I put her in her cot at bedtime, again drowsy but awake, I placed the label in her hand. She gave this adorable little droopy-eyed smile and slept! She did wake at about 10.30pm, but I think she was just getting a bit cold because I forgot to put the balnket on her once she was asleep. Once I covered her lightly she dozed off again all the way till about 4.30am. Once or twice she creid in her sleep, but then slept on. I'm taking it as a good sign that she is in fact learning to self-soothe during the night. She was a bit restless when she woke at 4.30am and when it was appraoching 5am I figured I may as well feed her, which is what I did. She fell asleep again at 5.30am and only woke again at 8am this morning. It may not seem all that wonderful to those who enjoy a full night's sleep, but for this sleep deprived momma it was bliss!

Tonight when I put her in her cot very much awake she was happily playing with the label again. I think I should get her one of those taglet blankets. After about 10 minutes she became restless. I sat with her susshing her until she fell asleep. Although it took about 40 minutes for her to fall asleep, miraculously there was very little crying. During that time I had been in and out of the room a few times and she only cried out a few times toward the end when the tiredness was becoming too much for her to handle. Now we shall see how the rest of the night pans out.

However, I am very much anticipating another bout of teething in the horizon, so let's hope the sleep training can be sorted before then!

Wordless Wednesday 6

Sleep Glorious Sleep... May I have some more Please?

Wow! A whole 5 hours sleep for me! After I logged off last night and went to bed at a about 10.30pm, i was fully expecting Sumayah to wake again at the dreaded midnight witching hour... but she didn't! I was so exhausted with the whole sleep training episode that I was fast asleep in no time! From eventually falling asleep at about 9.20pm, Sumayah actually sleep right through till 3.30am! So I stuck to my guns, only picking her up for a minute to settle her and put her immediately back into her cot. She fussed a little, cried a little, tossed and turned a little and after about 20 minutes she fell asleep again and sleep all the way through till 6.45am. When she woke she didn't cry, just moaned a little, so I brought her to the bed for a feed. This morning she was so pleasant, not at all clingy or upset over last night's experience so I have consoled myself that I have not emotionally damaged her in any way. This morning for her nap I wasn't as strict with the method, but still encouraged her to fall asleep on her own, and this time it only took 30 minutes as opposed to the hour from last night. So let's see how tonight pans out!

Sleep Training Day 1

Finally last night I had it and decided that tonight would be the night that sleep training will commence. usually Sumayah would sleep until the infamous witching hour at midnight and wake every 30 to 60 minutes only needing a pat to fall back to sleep. So basically I haven't been sleeping much! Fellow blogger Margot was my inspiration for my sleep training adventure. I used to read her blog greedily when she documented her experience so I was mentally prepared for the horrors of sleep training and was ready to take it on tonight! Of course I still made sure I picked up a copy of the baby-sleep-bible of our time...i.e. Baby Sense and read it thoroughly a few times. So according to this book if you follow the sleep training method it should take 2 to 4 days for baby to learn to fall asleep independently and sleep through the night. It also said that if you stay with your baby comforting her, but not picking her up it could take up to 20 minutes of crying before falling asleep. So let's go through the stages up to that point.
Stage 1: put her down drowsy, but awake. The room is dark and Sumayah is looking up at me bright-eyed the minute I put her in the cot. She just thinks we playing a game; until I try walking away that is! So I leave her to moan a little, but this soon turns into full on crying. I wait 2 minutes, pick her up to comfort her and put her back in her cot still drowsy, but awake.
Stage 2: she cries the minute I put her down, only this time I resist a whole 5 minutes! yay me!
Stage 3: crying and more crying, stretch it to 10 minutes
Stage 4: At around 12 minutes she possets, I pick her up and immediately she stops crying and her eyes droop, clearly she is exhausted from the crying, but as expected from this strong-willed little girl, the second I so much as lean over into the cot she cries. But I resist her another 5 minutes till I hear her posset again! All this crying is causing reflux. I pick her up, clean her arm and the blanket swiftly and immediately put her back in the cot. I am determined that this would be the 20 minute stretch that will end in sleep.
Stage 5: she's tossing and turing, still crying, but her cries are becoming less passionate. I'm watching the clock it's been 18 minutes now... Finally she just stops crying and is sleeping! I hang around in astonishement, 2 minutes later a last attempt at crying, but then she sleeps, and sleeps... 20 minutes exactly! I love you Baby Sense!

So now the plan is that everytime she wakes in the night I will follow the same sequence. The thing is this whole experience just makes me think of a line in a movie I watched ages ago. It was one of those shark atttack movies and Shakeel O'Neil's character says: "When you hold a hot pan, a second can feel like an hour, but when you're holding a hot woman, an hour can feel like a second..." Well when you are listening to your baby cry for 20 minutes, it feels like a century!

Stay tuned for an update on the rest of the night and sleep training day 2 coming soon on a blog near you!