Lets Talk Sleep

Before I became a mom I was a sleeper.  I napped whenever possible, stayed up late but slept in on the weekends.  I am such a serious napper I laid on all the couches I looked at for the living room before actually buying one.  I had to find one that was comfy, long, and wide enough to take a quality nap on.  I loved to sleep.

When Luke was first born I expected not to sleep much.  He was up every 2 hours to eat which meant I was up every 2 hours.  He was a slow eater and then it would take him forever to go back to sleep.  He cried a lot and I thought all of this was normal.  Well after 2 months of my normal I talked to the doctors and realized his trouble eating and especially going back to sleep were not normal.  He was put on medicine for reflux issues and life changed - again.  He was calm, he was sleeping without being held, and most of all I was sleeping, well at least a little more than before.

By 3 months Luke was actually sleeping about 6-7 hours straight at night.  It was heavenly.  The summer hit, and with the exception of a few bad spells, he was a good sleeper.  Going almost 8-9 hours at a time.  I was so happy to find that I had a sleep lover just like myself.  I was soaking it all in, life was good.

Around 6 months we had a little bump in the road.  Right when I started to back to work actually, which may have been part of the problem.  Everyone told me it was teeth - well he's 9 months and still no teeth, so I think not.  Anyway after a few bad weeks of barely any sleep things went back to his summer normal.  Yay.

Since then there has been no normal.  There was a month of fighting like a maniac at bedtime but after almost an hour each night he would give in and go to sleep.  After we got him down then he was out for the night. Whew.

Then came the "I'll go to sleep fast but I'll wake up 10 times during the night."  That's where we are now.  Bedtime is easy (I'm biting my tounge - well fingers - as I type this), we do diaper, lotion, pjs, bottle, rock, and into the crib he goes.  Sounds good, right?  Well its the next part that gets crazy.

About 3-4 hours after he goes down, he's back up, then every 1-2 hours after that, up again, and again, and again.  And when I say up I mean up.  Crying or screaming, not calming down unless he gets picked up.  I know, I know - everyone says just soothe them and don't pick them up.  Well it doesn't work for my little guy, believe me I have tried. 

Now that he can stand and pull himself up - thats how I find him sometimes in the middle of the night.  Maybe he's confused - it's not time to play, it's not time to eat, it's time to sleep.  

Is self soothing something they can be taught or something they have to learn naturally?

Luke is toothless and self-soothing-less.  I'm sure we'll get back to "normal" eventually.  I guess I was just spoiled for a few months but boy did I love it.