I have been
too afraid to follow-up my previous posts for fear of jinxing it, but Brayden
is sleeping through the night. Sure it’s only for three out of every four
nights. And sure, “sleeping through the night” for Brayden means sleeping for
ten hours when, for most of his peers, it means sleeping for twelve. But,
considering where we were a couple short weeks ago, this is nothing short of a
miracle. What did we do to initiate this positive turn of events? Well, if you
were hoping for some sort of enlightenment about infant sleep, I’m sorry to
disappoint. Because the truth of the matter is, we didn’t do anything. We did
not change a single element to his nighttime routine (story, bath, bottle). We
did not modify his twice-daily nap schedule. We didn’t institute ferberizing,
crying it out, or any other of the three trillion sleep training techniques.
One night, not long after his cold symptoms subsided, he went to bed at 8:00
and woke up the next morning at 6:00. Just. Like. That.
So, as it
turns out, Brayden was fully capable of being a decent sleeper, he was just
choosing to be a not-so-decent one. Maybe was testing us. How far can I push these silly adults before they break? When he
saw that it was very likely we had reached that breaking point, and heard us plotting
to do something about it, he backed off. I guess this goes with the old adage
that people can change, but it has to be on their own terms.
Even though I
can’t take any credit for Brayden’s new, more acceptable, sleep patterns, I am
still celebrating. And, slowly but surely I am recovering from the trauma of
his chronically erratic nighttime behavior. I am waking up less frequently at
night in anticipation of hearing him cry. I am falling asleep more easily now
that I’m not so overtired…
Though Brayden
ultimately made the choice to sleep better, Kevin and I have made every effort
to support his good decision. We have instituted a “no pick-up” clause when he
does have a difficult night. We tuck him in, pat his back, leave and repeat as
many times as necessary for him to fall back to sleep. We never put him to bed
when he’s already asleep, no matter how peaceful he looks after his bedtime
bottle. It’s not that we didn’t try these things before. And we certainly
didn’t come up with them ourselves either. But, for whatever reason, they are
finally actually working. It took ten-months, but he is finally receptive to
our primitive attempts at “sleep training”, and we have enough energy to stick
to them.
And so, until
the next sleep regression (likely in a few weeks when he masters the art of
walking), I will relish in this turn of luck. Better late than never, right?
