Sunday, September 09, 2007

Sleep Update


I can't believe I haven't updated on sleep earlier...but here it is folks....Holden sleeps through the night! Yay! I knew it would happen...just didn't know when...But he had had a while where he slept through randomly...so the first week of August we decided he was ready...no more nursing at night...meaning after he went to sleep...I though it would be at least a few nights of Tom being in there all night...who knew it would happen so easily? Who knew also that Tom would be the crazy zen master of sleep? not me...

The first night, Holden slept right through didn't get up once! The second night...he got up once but Sleep Zen Master got him back to sleep in less than 5 minutes, AND he didn't pick him up! The third night, or should I say morning was a bit rough...but he didn't nurse to sleep as usual (we were at bible study) Grandmere put him to sleep, and he wanted to nurse at 4am...so Tom was in there from 4-6:30 with Holden sleeping as long as Tom was there but as soon as he tried to leave awake he was! After that night...he was done...slept through most nights with maybe needing the Sleep Zen Master for 5 minutes every couple of nights or so....

Then we went on vacation...to Catalina...I thought "uh oh, here we go again..." BUT again...Holden just needed the Sleep Zen Master...of course when Tom left us in Catalina it was a little harder...I am definitely not Sleep Zen Master...and it turns out neither is my mom...so I did break down and nurse him the last two nights...and don't even ask me about the LAST night...we were up for several hours (I hate teething!) but then we returned home to the Sleep Zen Master and things were OK again:-) Still sleeping through the night....

Now if I could just get him to decide on one LONG nap or two smaller ones we would be conquering the sleep! But I tell you, I feel like a new mama now that I am getting to sleep through every night! Yay!

And I have to tell you discovering Tom is the Sleep Zen Master has been awesome...get this folks...he goes in there and put his hand on Holden's back and sings to him! And the most amazing thing is he sings, Amazing Grace...I sang this song to Holden every time we were up all night when he was a newborn! And now in church if we sing it during worship, Holden smiles and rests his head on my shoulder...SO SWEET! I love my boys!

10 comments:

Staci said...

Yay for sleep! I can't imagine going over a year w/o a full nights sleep! I bet you feel like a new woman now!

The picture is precious. The effect you put on it makes me think of a Norman Rockwell picture.

Anonymous said...

Wow, such a shame that you didn't implement the Clark method of getting your baby to sleep about 7 months ago. There's no biological reason for a baby Holdon's age to have to be nursed in the middle of the night.

Anonymous said...

hi anoymous
are you trying to be helpful? there are many parenting methods out there and shame on you for thinking you have the only & correct one.

BTW my almost 2 year old just recently starting sleeping through the night (not waking to nurse) ... so do you want to shame me too?

Anonymous said...

Please refer to my statement, "There's no biological reason for a baby Holden's age to have to be nursed in the middle of the night." This means a child that age does not need to be nourished during the night. An infant, yes, but a 1 year old or in your case a 2 year old, does not. Now with that said, if a mom chooses to nurse her baby or toddler to induce sleep, rather than teaching the little one to be able to fall asleep or put her/himself back to sleep in the middle of the night, independent of a bottle, breast or pacifier, that is her decision to make. I just got the feeling this mom was tired of not getting a full night's rest. But she did (and I guess you did too) make the decision to keep the child dependent on her for sleep for all these months. So then, don't complain!!!!!!

Anna said...

Thanks for your input, had been asking for advice maybe I would have appreciated it...BUT I in no way wanted to imply I was doing anything wrong by nursing Holden at night for a year...in fact I was quite happy with it...and I said I would do it until I felt he was ready not to which is what I did...he has no problem putting himself to sleep or for that matter putting himself back to sleepat night...
We as moms need to watch out what "advice" we give to each other and whether or not it is warranted and wanted...all children are different and one method does not work for all babies...
Thank goodness that parenting is not only about providing a biological need but is in fact an opportunity to nuture and raise up these precious gifts from God...so unless I am doing something against what the bible says please keep your advice and shaming to yourself...I don't care if you disagree with me just don't tell me what I should do...
And thank you for reminding me to take annonymous comments off my settings, if you have something to say you should be willing to put your name out there...

michael said...

Ahh yes, anonymous comments. I have a love/hate relationship with them. I love that it allows people to say things that they would otherwise be too afraid to say. But I hate not knowing who it is and it annoys me that people are so afraid to show themselves, leaving me wondering if it's someone I know, or is it some stranger that happened upon my blog?

For the sake of a good argument/discussion though, I personally am more than happy to allow them. While it annoys me to have people (anonymous or otherwise) argue and/or disagree with me, it also causes me to think harder about my views and dig deeper in defending my beliefs, opinions, or decisions. Just my thoughts.

Unknown said...

I agree that some anonymous comments can maybe help you dig deeper etc ... but this one was just a "shame" on Anna and her parenting style. so I think show yourself if you are going to do that.

and to comment on anonymous' "don't complain!!!!" ... this is anna's blog. if she wants to complain that is her choice. I am a runner and sometimes complain about how hard a run was or how sore i am .... i'm not going to stop running b/c i don't want to be sore anymore! The parenting style i do is much harder than some out there, but i believe (from reading much research) it's the best for my child mentally, physically, emotionally, & developmentally. but it's hard and i might complain every once in a while.

Sapphire, Dana, Karalee & Alastair said...

Wow anonymous advice, guess you've really scarred Holden for life being there huh? Lol For the record "anonymous" either leave your name or don't bother giving advice to a woman that's done a fabulous job. I think it's wonderful he's sleeping through the night for you and yahoo on having a sleep zen master in the house! Too sweet about Amazing Grace being "his" song! He's a fantastic little boy and you've both done a fantastic job raising him! :-)

michael said...

By the way, Amanda said that from my comment it sounded like I was the anonymous commenter. Just so you know, it wasn't me.

To anonymous - next time you might try saying "Have you tried the Clark method? It worked really well for me.", or something like that. It would probably have been a more effective way to get your point across.

Anna said...

Thanks Michael...I actually didn't think that you were the anonymous commenter...I thought your comment was well written and right on...

I would have prefered your version of the comment as well as possibly some info on the method...as I am an information seeker I looked up clark method and sleep solutions and couldn't find info on it...so how could I use it if I don't know anything about it!

Ok I am done with this post lets move on shall we