Elizabeth hasn't been her usual great sleeper since this summer. With all of the traveling, different time zones, different beds, different routines, her sleeping pattern got way off. She hasn't been napping as well, and has been getting up in the middle of the nights every once in a while.
At first I thought that this would all go away when we finally were able to be home for more than just a week at a time, but I was wrong. Some days would go just great, but for the most part she was off. I thought maybe it was all of the teething she's been going through, or she was growing, but I finally realized the truth that was staring me in the face...I was the problem.
I had been taking the easy way out at nights, but causing a worse problem in the long run. I would go and get Elizabeth out of bed, and nurse her, then she would be ready to go back to bed. This meant no more crying, no bugging our various hosts from the summer travels, no keeping Brian up in the night, and I got back to sleep sooner.
I realized this a while ago, but I wanted to wait for the right time to retrain Elizabeth. This have been really stressful around here, especially for Brian, so I didn't want to add anymore stress for him. So, this weekend was the perfect time since Brian went camping.
This is how the night went for us.... I put Elizabeth down to bed at about 8:30pm. Elizabeth woke up at about 3:30am crying, but not her desperate cry. She continued crying off and on until about 4:30am, there were times I almost went and got her, and even ended up right outside her door once, but I didn't go in. I was proud of myself for holding back, but hated myself at the same time, wanting to go and comfort my little girl. At 5:30am I heard her again, but luckily this time it only lasted about 15 minutes before she went back to sleep. She then made a sound at 7:15am, and I thought she was ready to start the day. I was wrong, she quickly went back to sleep. Then I heard a beautiful sound at 9:00am...Elizabeth playing happily in her crib. I quickly went and got her, and we started the day with a well rested, happy Elizabeth {Mommy could still use a bit more sleep}.
I am hoping to be able to keep this up, and soon have her sleeping like her old self again!
