Sweet Dreams

This is one of my favorite sleeping pics of Ellie. She is a mover and shaker and finds the strangest positions to sleep in. This one made me laugh!

Ellie started a habit - a very bad habit. She was waking up every night around 11pm, 2am, 5am, and 6:30am. I know what you're thinking...she must be sick or she must be a new born. Nope, my 17 month old had been sick, very sick with many different things(stomach virus, ear infection, teething) but she wasn't sick anymore. She was just used to mommy coming in at the slightest whimper. I can't stand to hear the screams of "mommy, mommy, mommy." I would dart to her room, pick her up, rock her and sing to her, sometimes give her a bottle, sometimes change her diaper, sometimes give her orajel, sometimes give her mylicon, sometimes give her crackers, sometimes put a cd on, etc. She would instanltly fall back asleep, I would lay her down, and literally 15 minutes later she would be screaming again. It was a total nightmare. After a few months (OMG!)of sleepless nights and me becoming a walking zombie, I sought out my pediatrician, other moms, my mom & sister, my family, my friends, many books and online research. Brett and I finally decided she needed to be broken of this habit, clearly nothing was wrong - she just wanted mommy. So, we decided to let her cry. I would not go into her room for 3 nights. THREE NIGHTS! Do you know how long that is when you're in the moment? One minute of screaming at 3am feels like a lifetime. Anyway, looking back on it, those 3 days have come and gone so fast (just like everything else in life). Not only have those 3 days come and gone, but so has Ellie's night time wakings. Yep, after the 3rd night - she sleeps all night. 7pm-7am. 12 whole hours. It's heavenly. Oh, and the 3 nights weren't really that bad. The first night she cried about 45-50 minutes. The second night she cried for 30 minutes. The 3rd night she cried for 10 minutes.

Other wonderful things have come from breaking this habit. Her naps have improved and are longer. She asks me to go "night night" and actually points to her crib (before she would claw onto me as I tried to lay her down) and she's going to bed an hour earlier. I am the type of person that HAS to have sleep. I become an unstable person when I'm lacking sleep! This has been quite an adventure! If you're reading this and have similiar issues, trust me and give it 3 nights. You won't regret it. Sweet dreams!