broke the golden rule

I should have known better, I really should have. In yesterday's post I was bragging about how predictable Henry is with his first sleeping stretch. I broke the golden rule of motherhood, "Thou shall not speak of your child's sleep habits." Payback is that he was up at 10pm (which is totally unusual for him)....and 1:15, and 3:30, and 5:15 and 6:30. Rockstar.

Quite honestly Henry has been a total pill since Christmas Eve. I think the holiday threw him for a loop either that or he's going through a growth spurt. The latter hypothesis elicits a smirk from my husband who says, "It seems like he's always going through a growth spurt." Its true. When you can't figure it out, blame growing. Damn growing, I shake my fist at you.

Even as I type this, for the last hour and a half Henry has been cranking every 5-10 minutes making me into a jack-in-the-box trying to soothe him. Well at least the constant up and down is a good leg workout. See? There is ALWAYS a silver lining.

In efforts to not lose my mind I'm always trying to think of what can be adjusted to make improvements. I swear as long as I feel like I'm being proactive I won't lose all hope. I mean, he HAS to sleep through the night sometime, right?

Anyways, the new theory that is striking a chord with me is Good Night, Sleep Tight: The Sleep Lady's Gentle Guide to Helping Your Child Go to Sleep , Stay Asleep, And Wake Up Happy. Kim West, the Sleep Lady, seems to have devised a plan that is a kinder, gentler "cry it out." Basically Henry has turned to nursing as his preferred method of soothing himself and I, the nervous first time mother have enabled this. As a result, Henry can't put himself back to sleep and I've done nothing to teach him how to do it. Kim West assures me that Henry will not starve to death if I let him go 4-5 hours overnight (especially at this age) which was music to my ears. So starting tonight I'm going to soothe him crib-side (but NOT pick him up!) if he wakes before he's due to eat. It probably won't be a good first night, these things take time, but we're hoping that by New Years we'll have a new sleeper on our hands. Pray for me people...and send me strength.