And Here We Go....

     I last left off with my little Sophie going swaddle-free at night for the first time.  The first two nights were awesome, amazing! She slept so well and actually slept a little past 6am, which hasn't happened too often in our house thus far.  We were like, "what the Hell has been our hold up here?!"  Then the bottom dropped out.
     On the 3rd night she woke up screaming like she was literally on fire.  However, as the night progressed I began to seriously question if demonic possession was at play.  Since we had no head spinning and no split pea soup projectiles I guessed we were OK.  She woke around 11:30pm ready to rumble and didn't stop the crazy parade until 1am.  She then fell into an exhausted slump but was up and at 'em at 5am.  We live very much in the city but I swear I heard the rooster crow at that hour.
     The next night was pretty drama-free (which we welcome around here!) and then came super fun night number 5.  She woke at 9pm, 11:30pm, 2am, 3am and then seriously lit it up at 3:30.  At that point, and countless futile attempts to calm her down, my husband and I decided to implement the cry it out technique.  It was ugly, it was hard, and it worked! One hour of misery later, we had a peacefully sleeping babe who slept until 7am.
      She, again, came out of this event unscathed.  Wish I could say the same.  Another sorority mate, Becca, suggested a book "Healthy Sleeping Habits, Healthy Child." We hit up Barnes and Noble quick today and bought that baby up. 
     So here is where I bestow some more "tips".  The book made me feel much better because it states that post-colic children's number one symptom is sleep disturbance. Makes sense to me, and since I'm dealing with a post-colic babe, I'll take it.  It suggests an earlier bedtime for a nighttime waking baby.  So that is what we did tonight. It also states that you should not jump and run in at every cry.  I know, I know, that seems obvious.  But I have had 3 months of navy seal-like colic boot camp where every fiber of my being is tuned into that cry and conditioned to do WHATEVER I can to make it go away.  So, even though colic is gone, it's hard to let go of my training.  However, I have renewed confidence after reading this book. 
    I believe that I will help her learn to sleep.  When she's a teen she will thank me!

As always, I will keep you posted.