I had it easy with my first kid. At 3 months old, Irene slept through the night. Now, she goes to bed early and wakes up at a reasonable time. Sam, on the other hand, is not so easy. For a little while there, it looked like we were going to luck out and have two perfect angels when it came time for bed time. Then, Sam started to show his true colors. Back in December of 2011, I wrote about the problems we were having with Mr. Man.
Well, almost 5 months later, we are still struggling with Sam… except now, it seems to be getting worse. On average it is taking almost 2 hours to get him to go to sleep. We have tried letting him cry it out but that ALWAYS results in him sticking his hand down his throat and vomiting. We have tried rocking him gently till he is almost asleep, but he perks up the moment we put him in his crib, starts to scream and then throws up. We have put him down stone cold asleep, but the moment he hears the door shut, he will wake up, scream and then throw up. Peter and I are at wits ends over here. The night time routine for the two kids is sucking all of our time.
Of course, that issue is nothing compared to the Witching Hour(s). Once we have taken the two hours to finally get Sam down, he will wake at 2:24 AM (yes- exactly at 2:24 AM). It would be OK if he woke up, made a little noise and went back to sleep. Buyt not. Not our Sam. He wakes up and starts to scream as if someone is stabbing him in the eye. His screams are so load that he has even woken our next door neighbor up. These screams will last anywhere from 1-3 hours. Again, we have tried to let him scream it out, but I bet you can guess what happens when we do. That’s right. Peter and I end up cleaning puke at 3 in the morning. These Witching Hour(s) wake ups are killing me.
First, I am one of those people that once I wake up I have a terrible time going back to sleep. Peter is blessed with the ability to fall asleep at the drop of a hat. So, when Sam wakes up screaming, Peter is usually the first one there with the hope that he will be able to calm Sam down before I have fully woken up. Of course, with the ear piercing screams, it is usually too late. Of course, Sam takes one look at his Daddy and 9 times out of 10 he will scream even louder, because it is not his Dad he wants, but his Mom. Well, more specifically, his Mom’s boobs.
I have forgotten what sleeping through the night feels like. I hope one day soon I will get to experience that joy once more.
What do you do to help teach a baby to self soothe when crying it out always leads to vomit?
William and I haven’t a clue–but we do feel for the two of you (or actually, the three of you.)
Thanks Betty. It is a little grim over here. Sam is lucky he is cute. Last night he was up from 2-4. Peter tried to settle him down, but Sam was having none of it. He wanted mommy’s boob and that was it. Ear plugs and plastic sheeting under his crib to catch the vomit may be our next step.