Saturday, October 1, 2011

When will you sleep, emily?

I'm so torn and yet frustrated. It has been 4 days trying to let Emily cry to sleep for nights. It was still ok the first two days. Actually it was great on day 2. But not good after that. Except for day2. It still took Emily 2-3hrs to go to sleep, ending with a feed and not cos she managed to settle herself to sleep! What IS wrong??
(that was written 2-3days ago. So far the last two nights Emily has slept relatively well. That is she had fallen asleep at 7ish and lasted till 12ish am! Actually one of the nights she slept till 4ish am from 8ish pm)

I wished someone can really help me here without having to pay like $100+ to get an expert. I wish someone can tell me exactly what to do when she had managed to settle and yet wake up 5-15mins later screaming again. we did the cry 12mins thing for like 4 times! Cos everytime I went in to settle her and it's not pick her up, she will eventually sleep after like 5-10mins and then wake up again 5-15mins later! That is as long as her sleep cycle is. That is how long she sleeps
each time I put her down for a nap.

On Wednesday I started to tackle the naps. she slept 30mins for morning nap (miracle!) but i wondered if it's cos I put her down in my bed. Mid day nap was 15mins only. I tried putting her in my bed but no success this time. Afternoon at 345pm she managed to sleep another 15mins soothing herself with sucking the pillow but woke up crying and that pillow sucking no longer soothed her. In the end in my desperation to get her to sleep more and longer so she can make it to bedtime I rocked her to sleep and carried her till I had together dinner ready at 445pm.

Why? I asked God why? Why won't she sleep? Last time Eliza will not fight sleep as badly as Emily. Aka scream when she wants to sleep. As much as I enjoy carrying Emily, I can't carry her ALL the time to get her to sleep and when she is sleeping! I guess it is also in her temperament that she is like that.

From day 1 her crying when she resist bathing will send Eliza running out of the room as far as she can. My mil who bathed the crying Emily said that her ears were ringing after that. I don't remember Eliza crying to be that loud! Haha.

So even as we endure this sleep training, I am also learning to be consistent. There are many times when I really do not know what to do next. Do I pick her up or settle her on her cot or let her continue her nap or what? I really want to pick her up many a times but I also soon came to realize that I am giving her mixed signals. I read somewhere that we are teaching them to form good sleep habits. I can't say Eliza was a fantastic sleeper but she was, in comparison, an easier one. But then she also had her pacifier to soothe her to sleep which doesn't work for Emily. And Eliza had the itchy problem which wakes her and me up frequently at night. Sooo every baby is really different.

The naps are hard to tackle but we'll get there. The first few days is really tough cos I couldn't do much when I left her to protest. I would be outside with Eliza and there's once Eliza probably noticing my *i dunno what to do now* state, hugged me and said "it's ok mummy. It's ok" *melts*!

We continue to pray that Emily will learn to settle on her own to sleep and sleep longer. Ie not just 20mins only. I know it is not enough for her cos she gets tired really fast if I get her up.

To better sleep days ahead!
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