Again, My son hates to sleep!!

Have I mentioned that my son hates to sleep? It doesn’t matter if he’s in my arms, Hubby’s lap, or his crib. He will SCREAM when he feels himself falling asleep. Here is another installment of “My son hates to sleep!”

Yesterday was a good day. He had two decent, but not great naps. By around 7:00pm he was exhausted and ready for bed. We did the usual routine, sans the books. After the diaper change, he was too worked up to settle down for bedtime books, so we went straight to the nursing. He fell asleep peacefully while nursing, and the transition to the crib was flawless. He was out for the count. On with my evening chores I went.

Within the first hour, he was up. He screamed until I came to ‘rescue’ him from his bedtime misery. I rocked him back to sleep in just a few minutes.

The second hour brought the same scenario. He screamed until I ‘rescued’ him again by rocking him to sleep. Two times I can handle.

The third hour brought the same scenario yet again. I wasn’t as patient in my ‘rescuing’, but it went the same way – rocked back to sleep. All three times it seemed all he wanted was to be in my arms. He didn’t seem to be in pain from teeth, or discomfort from gas. Each time he easily fell back to sleep when he was with me.

The FOURTH time in three hours, I finally decided I’d had enough. I was worried that I was going to be up every hour all through the night, and I definitely didn’t want that. On my way to his room, I closed our bedroom door (so Hubby might possibly get some sleep) and then the nursery door behind me. I knew it was going to be a loud evening.

The next two hours were touch and go. Of course it started out with tears. He screamed because I wasn’t picking him up this time. I patted him, and kept a hand on him, which he eventually pushed away. Have I mentioned that he’s like a horse when he’s annoyed about being in his crib? Yes, he kicks the bed like a horse stomping the ground. After a half hour of crying, he finally took a pacifier. I’m pretty sure he fell completely asleep in 5 minutes, but he felt it, didn’t like it, and woke up with a vengeance.

I let him sit up for a while, since he’d been crying for more than 30 minutes, and I figured he had some gas bubbles in his little belly. While he was sitting up, he first tried to fall asleep – his head slumped over his chest, leaning on the side of the crib. Next he screamed, because he realized he wasn’t getting picked up out of his crib. And then he decided to smile and play. He found out that he could reach the crib rail, look over the edge of the crib, and chew on the rail. He was actually very cute.

*this picture is blury because there was barely any light, and I didn't want to use the flash. The shutter had to stay open for a while to let all the light in, so any movement made it blury.

I sang “Jesus Loves Me” about 200 times, all while he was crying. I sat in the chair where he couldn’t see me for a while, thinking that may work.

In the end, I think he just gave up finally. I was patting or rubbing his belly, he rolled over onto his side (always a good sign) and fell asleep. I crept quietly down the hall to my bedroom, where I turned the monitor on. I was assuming he would wake up in a few seconds and we’d have to start the whole process over again. Finally, my body relaxed, my eyelids drooped (more than they already were), and I breathed a sigh of relief. He was asleep. Hubby was asleep. I was asleep. All was right with the world!

Three hours later, he woke up crying. I nursed him right back to sleep. One fight a night is enough for me!