Last night was . . . Awesome! Here is how it went:
Down for bed at 8:20
Woke at 10:08 (because the dog barked, argh!!)
I went into his room, picked him up and rocked him and told him it was Sleepytime. Laid him back down in bed and of course he absolutely screamed his head off for a full . . . 2 minutes! I had to stop and really listen because I couldn't believe what I wasn't hearing! Amazing!
He woke again at 12:35. I repeated what I did last time and he was back to sleep by 12:38. Three minutes! Seriously?! This is so cool!
Woke again at 1:38. This time I nursed him and he was back in bed, asleep and full, by 1:55.
Woke again at 4:55, and was back to sleep by 5:00.
I mean, Riley still woke up 4 times, and I honestly think that if I had let him cry just a minute or two longer a couple of those times he might have put himself back to bed, but this was better than I even hoped for. One interesting tidbit, when I told him it was Sleepytime I could feel his body relax for a beat and he would yawn and lay his head on my shoulder, but almost immediately after that he would sit up and start shifting around, almost as if he wanted to find a more comfortable place to go back to sleep.
I am actually looking forward to tonight!
In the book "Sleeping through the Night" the author talks about something called an "Extinction Burst", which means that sometimes they will cry longer the next night, just to make sure that you are serious. But then, the third night the crying will decrease significantly. However, I would like to think there is a good possibility that we might repeat or improve on what happened last night and avoid the Extinction Burst altogether. I feel like I just need to give him another minute or two to try to soothe himself back to sleep before coming into his room. He wants to sleep, and if feels like he kind of understood what he was supposed to be doing. He just needs a little bit more coaching.
My perfect Mother's Day gift was to be able to sleep through the night, just for one night. Maybe I'll actually get what I was hoping for and a whole lot more! Woohoo!!
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