Sleep and Greyson.
Oh my word, sleep (or LACK there of) and Greyson seems to be ever on the forefront of my mind. Even as a NICU baby this kid didn't sleep. Most of the time when I was up there his eyes would be open, just checking out the world. I should have known then we were in for trouble!
Over the weekend we switched Greyson's Room (now called the Blue Room) and the Office (now called the Green Room). It was a great move. The Blue Room is now a CHILD-FREE office for Michael and I. Greyson is not allowed in this room, we have a baby-gate up and it is off limits. Just having a space where we can put things that ought not be touched by little hands is amazing! Plus it will be so nice to have work projects out and know that they won't be messed up the moment my back is turned.
The Green Room will hold both Greyson and Little Bird #2 by next fall. Little Bird #2 will start off in our room for the first few months. But currently Greyson is enjoying the room all to himself. When we moved his bed into the Green Room he kept shouting "Bed! Bed!". Never before has he been so excited about his bed. He hopped right in an put his head on the pillow. We took this new excitement about his bed and the move to make some changes to our sleep routines, so we pulled out The Sleep Lady Book and other suggestions from friends and family and brushed up on what to do.
1) We've brought in a CD player. It plays Emerald Isle, a really soothing CD of Celtic melodies that include pipes, fiddle, guitar and piano. It was actually the CD I planned to listen too during Greyson's birth. Anyway he likes the music and I think it helps distract him from the noises on the house as well and soothes him.
2) No more laying in bed with Greyson. We used to read and sing to Greyson while laying in bed with him, then he would fuss when we left the bed. Well no more. Now we are reading and singing from a chair next to the bed. At bedtime Greyson's bed is for Greyson only!
3) Sleep Lady Shuffle. Last night and tonight I sat in a chair next to Greyson's bed while he fell asleep. I'd rub his back from time to time and say "Shh" etc. until he fell asleep. Really it didn't take too long (YAY!!) and it's a step to getting him to sleep with us right there with him. I'll do it again tomorrow night. Then Wednesday night I'll move my little chair to the doorway and for the next 3 nights I'll be shushing from there. Eventually he'll be going to sleep with out us in the room.
I think that getting us out of his bed is really important right now. We co-slept a lot these past 2 years, and frankly I wouldn't have done it any differently - all of us needed the closeness - but now it is time for him to be comfortable sleeping alone. When he's been waking up in the middle of this night (something he DIDN'T do last night) he seems to be the most upset at finding himself in bed alone. Hopefully once he is used to going to sleep alone it won't bother him if he wakes up at 1:00am and he'll be able to go back to sleep without a problem.
So I'm hoping this room switch and new sleep plan helps. After all, we'll be dealing with a whole new baby in 6 months!
2 comments:
This all sounds great! I hope it goes smoothly. One other thing you might consider... we put a dog in the room with each of our kids, for the same reason. They woke up and were lonely. Something about having another warm body in the room just made it easier for them to go back to sleep. We even let them each pick out a dog bed for the dog to use in their room. I said Lola would be lonely if you weren't in here with her, etc.. and it worked like a charm. Go figure???
Jenn - we tried the dog thing for about a week. It helped Greyson a little, but Tallulah was MISERABLE! She'd be fine in his room for about 10 min then she'd start whining and pawing at the baby gate. So we stopped that one. If we had a more agreeable dog I think it would have worked out better!
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