Toddlerhood Transitions

That time has come, much sooner than I would like.  Ryne started climbing out of his crib last night, which has changed our lives dramatically, yet again.  We had a two hour battle last night of putting Ryne back in bed over and over again, and thus keeping him from banging on the door and opening it to escape sleep!  Today at naptime, it was just as bad, if not worse because I was having to deal with the mental exhaustion all on my own.

I called the doctor this morning to see what they advise.  The nurse told us that it's time to transition Ryne to a toddler bed, for safety concerns.  She said that a lot of kids end up breaking an arm or leg when they start climbing out.  She also said that we have to continue to put him back in bed over and over again until he learns that he HAS to stay in his bed.  She told me that this was VERY important given Ryne's previous sleep issues.  Maybe one day Ryne will take after me and LOVE sleep!

Another transition we are making is with the potty.  We did not take Ryne's potty on vacation, since we figured he'd be at the beach during the day most days, and we figured he wouldn't stop long enough to actually go sit on the potty when we were in the condo.  However, now, he's decided that he wants to pee standing up!  It's the cutest and funniest thing EVER!  It's like a tiny grown man standing there!  So far he hasn't actually gone standing up, but he has been telling us when he needs to go.  Adam assured me last night that Ryne was just making a game of it again, but as soon as we let him off the stool he stands on at the potty, he peed in the floor!  He did the same things again this morning...on my foot!  So we are trying to figure out a way to overcome the issue of distraction while standing to potty.

My little boy is growing up so fast!  It doesn't help that he does so many things like a big kid or grown up.  He haven't used a stroller in almost a year.  He haven't used a high chair in about 6 months - now the toddler bed and standing to potty!  AHHH!  Can we just freeze time for a little while so I can keep my little boy?!

17 months

Yesterday, Ryne turned 17 months!  This means we are a month away from the big 1-8!!!  These bigger milestones drive me crazy!  I worry because I want Ryne to be on target for all the 18 month old accomplishments!  They also drive me crazy because he's getting older and bigger and not so much my "baby" anymore (even though he will be my baby for his entire life)!
So what is going on in the world of Ryne?  Everything!

Language:  Ryne is saying new words almost daily!  I'm surprised sometimes by what he learns.  He is now busting out full sentences.  Yesterday he said "I want my dadda." (tear) and "help me."  He still has his baby jabber as well.  It's not like he speaks full sentences or phrases all the time, but before 17 months is pretty darn good!

I started "teaching" Ryne (sorta).  We are going over a new color and a new letter of the alphabet every week, although the ABCs may be 86ed shortly.  I'm  not sure if he's ready for them.  He can pick out an A and he can say "A" but he's still not quite grasping the concept, and I'm not sure he should!  He now uses "A" in phrases.  So "bite bite" has become "a bite", etc.  Who knew a child could learn to use articles so early!  He also picked up the word "apple" which usually sounds like "babble" but he can point one out...and he loves to eat them!

Physical:  Ryne is continuing to climb on EVERYTHING - coffee table, tv console, chairs, sofa, etc.  He has also started sitting in a regular chair when he eats, instead of the high chair.  He will occasionally sit in the high chair, but he wants to be a big boy, I guess!  He's also using a spoon and fork (toddler size and regular size) very well - anything to be like Mommy and Daddy!
Just today, he learned to turn the vacuum on.  He is obsessed!  I had to vacuum the entire house...twice, to keep him from screaming "back back" at me!  I guess I'm glad we are still in a tiny house!

Sleep:  Tonight is night #2 of the "Back to Sleep" campaign.  I'm not sure why Ryne started waking up at night about a month ago, but it's been torture.  I took him to the doctor yesterday to get him checked out to make sure he wasn't crying at night for a legit reason.  The doctor (who we LOVE, by the way, ) crossed his legs and said "you're going to have to suck it up!"  We had been letting him cry with no success and we had been rocking him, with no success, and Adam committed Baby Sleep Sin by letting Ryne watch TV in the middle of the night one night!  Nothing was working.  So we are now back to controlling his bedtime a little better and last night he didn't wake up (YAY!!!).  Pray for us that this works!

Bottle:  I'm cracking down!  I've declared Momma Law!  Dr P. said 18 oz of milk is more than enough right now.  Ryne is having double (sometimes more than double) that in a day!  He won't drink milk out of a sippy cup, but he will drink juice and tea from a sippy, so I've decided to use that to my advantage.  His reflux is 100% gone (Praise the Lord!), so we have been able to give him watered down juice and tea in a sippy cup with no problems.  Today I got him down to 24 oz of milk and honestly, if I can't get him lower, I'm not going to worry.  That basically leaves him using a bottle just in the morning, before a nap and bedtime.  I'm fine with him drinking mostly milk, but he's not eating as much so we have to cut back.

Puzzles:  He's now completing some of the harder puzzles for 3+ years!  He's obsessed and it's something we can do together so I'm happy to let him do it!  Next we are going to work on jigsaw puzzles!

Music and Dancing:  Ryne loves both!  I think we are going to try out Kindermusik after the New Year in lue of The Little Gym.  I think Ryne would get more out of Kindermusik right now.  He participates, to an extent, at TLG.  He's strangely not into the group stuff at TLG, even though he is incredibly social there.  He likes to sit off away from everyone else and do the activities, but some activities he just refuses to do!  If you put on a good beat, though, Ryne will drop it like it's hot!   It's the cutest thing EVER!

I'm excited to see what the next month holds!

Sleep Baby Sleep!

Well, I guess it was only a matter of time before the good sleeping habits faded away!  Ryne is back to waking up every night and staying up for an hour or so.  I love my son, but I do not love his sleep issues!  This new trend has been going on for a month now.  It started a week or so before Thanksgiving.  I knew Thanksgiving travels would mess up Ryne's sleeping schedule some, so we just stuck it out until the holiday was over.  I did not expect for it to carry on until close to Christmas!

Also, it's not just like I'm waking up for an hour or so to get him back to sleep.  I'm now waking up on my own every night around 2 AM and have trouble going back to sleep until sometime around 5.  Usually, Ryne wakes up sometime during those hours every night.

If the snow and ice are cleared tomorrow, I'm taking him back to the doctor!  His waking up HAS to stop!  Maybe Ryne's pediatrician will do  me a favor and prescribe me a sedative - wishful thinking!

Ryne also said a new phrase today:  "up there."  I guess he's picking up all this vocabulary because he never sleeps!

11 Plagues

So what you're not told in the Bible is that there were actually 11 plagues.  Sure we all know about the standard, water to blood, frogs, boils, locusts, etc.  However, I am starting to believe that there was one left out - Cranky Child that Cries Incessantly at Nap/Bedtime!  I wonder if the reason it was left unpublished is because civilization would have ended a long time ago if people knew of this ongoing plague!  Last night was torturous again.  Ryne went to bed just fine and then woke up 45 minutes later and cried for an hour before going back to sleep!

When things go terribly wrong in my life, I always go to the Bible to see if there is not a lesson or story that I can relate to or utilize to remedy my issue.  The 10 Plagues seemed to be the most relatable thing right now.  Monday, the stress of Ryne crying for an hour and a half at naptime actually made me break out in hives from the stress!  Hives are close enough to boils to me!  Throw in a few frogs, locusts, diseased livestock with all this thunder and rain we've been having and it looks like we might be having a good old fashioned curse of plagues!  Sadly for Ryne, being the first born doesn't bode well for him with respect to biblical plagues!

As my mother would say: "at least you still have your sense of humor!"  Yes - at the cost of my sanity!

The Breaking Point...

...well, not quite, but it felt like it!  As I mentioned in the previous post, Ryne cried for an hour and a half last night.  It's so hard to hear and so hard to bare.  He did sleep through the night last night though, so that was a bit of a relief!
Then came naptime today, or what was supposed to be naptime, today.  Ryne and I ran some errands this morning, a little earlier than ususal.  I usually wait to run errands until after his morning nap, but that means it's usually mid afternoon before we leave to go anywhere.  This morning, we were out the door by 9:45!  I wasn't expecting to be gone as long as we were, but I also thought he would fall asleep on the way home from the errands if we were out past his naptime.  Well we out for about an hour and a half, so we got home in time to give Ryne some food and let him get settled down for his nap.  He played around a little and started to wind down so I made a bottle and took him to his room to rock him a minute and he started getting fussy.  I tried to calm him down but he wasn't having it!  So I put him in his crib, thinking he would cry a few minutes and wear himself out and fall asleep.  A few minutes turned into an hour.
That hour seemed like a year! After all the crying last night and the crying during naptime, I thought I was going to break down.  I almost called Adam to tell him that he was going to have to come, so I could step out, chill out and avoid pulling my hair out!  The feelings that arise from Ryne's sleep issues are so complex.  It's heartbreaking and frustrating, and I feel like I'm going to go insane!  I just want to cry, scream and stomp my feet, but you have to keep  your composure around your child.

I really pray that we can get a handle on the sleep issues.  Ryne is always in such a good mood and so happy when he gets enough sleep during the day.  He NEEDS the sleep...and so do I!   I'm much happier when I've had adequate sleep as well!

Regression Depression

Just when I thought Ryne was doing better with his sleep issue and back on track, he proved me wrong!  Last night Ryne went to bed pretty well.  Adam and I actually had a chance to rent a DVD and watch it, which has been a rarity in this house for the past year!  However, Ryne did wake up at 5:45 and wouldn't go back to sleep...without a bottle!  Ugh!  One step forward and two steps back - such is my life it seems!  Waking up at almost 6 in the morning isn't too bad.  It's not like he cried for hours on end just trying to get him to go to bed.  OH wait, that was this night - tonight!  
Ryne cried for an hour and a half tonight!  He hasn't done that in several days.  I had almost forgotten how heartbreaking and depressing it was to hear him cry for over an hour!  He had two good naps today, so it doesn't make much sense, really.  I just hope it doesn't take almost another week to break this cycle as well.  Surely since we have established some routine of going to sleep with minimal fussing and sleeping through the night (at least for a few days in a row),  it won't be as tough.  I pray he sleeps through the night tonight! My emotions cannot handle another night of crying in the wee hours of the morning.  These are trying times on us all!
On a happy note:  Ryne said "up" today when he wanted me to pick him up!

You Win Some, You Lose Some

Technically, it is Saturday morning here in Knoxville, but when I mention "last night,"  I'm actually talking about Thursday Night/ Friday morning or Day 8 of the Sleep Diary.  Last night, we lost the sleep battle!  Thursday Ryne had his 12 month shots and did not nap very well Thursday.  Adam and I figured that he would probably go down for bedtime pretty well.  Again, Adam "read" to Ryne and Ryne barely took a bottle at bedtime.  We never expected at 2 AM that he would wake up screaming!  We let him cry about 10 minutes to see if he'd go back to sleep but he didn't.  Adam got up to rock him.  Ryne just couldn't get settled back down so I broke down and made a bottle, since he hadn't had a full feeding at bedtime.  Ryne took the bottle and fussed a little more and then finally went back to sleep.  So considering all that, we never expected him to wake up at 7:30!  I mean seriously!  Adam and I like to sleep in on Fridays, especially since I had been baking all day and Adam had worked all week!  I thought we might be able to give Ryne another bottle at 7:30 to see if he might go back to sleep because he woke up crying.  We were not so fortunate!  He was still tired but he was NOT going back to bed.
It felt like a total setback!  We were doing so well!  Ryne and I were finally sleeping through the night for the first time in a year (over a year for me due to pregnancy).  Ryne wasn't requiring a bottle at night!  So to have to wake up and give him a bottle was upsetting!
Ryne hardly napped today (Friday).  Sometimes I think he gets so far off schedule that it's hard to bring him back around to sleeping at all!  If he doesn't sleep well at night, he has a harder time going down for naps, but if he doesn't nap well, it's hard to get him to go down for bedtime.  It's a vicious cycle!  I think he took two 30 minute naps today, which is hardly enough.
Hopefully he will sleep well into the morning so I can get this cake done in peace!

12 months!

Yesterday at 1:45 pm, Ryne turned 1!  It was exciting and depressing all at the same time!  Time flew by so quickly!  It seems like yesterday that he was born...and not a year ago yesterday!  I kind of feel like time was stolen from me when he was born early.  Don't get me wrong, I was so happy to seem him and so happy to finally get to meet him and hold him and so happy to be able to stop having contractions after three weeks of them, but it feels like he shouldn't be one yet.  He should be one next month!
Anywho, back to reality!  Adam's parents came by to see Ryne (and maybe us) last night!  Honestly, I was a little worried that it might be too much excitement for Ryne that late in the evening, and that he might have trouble going to bed, but he didn't!  We even changed up the routine a little bit and had Adam do the bedtime routine with Ryne.  I told Adam that he needed to read Ryne's night night books to him.  So he read  Guess How Much I Love You  in the most boring, monotonous voice ever.  Ryne conked out in a matter of minutes!  I could hear Adam over the monitor and honestly it almost made me pass out, from sheer monotonous boredom!  Ha!  Ryne slept 11 1/2 hours last night!  Hopefully this is becoming the norm for Ryne...and me!!!  It's amazing that it took less than a week to get on a good sleep schedule and sleeping through the night!
Ryne has learned a few new tricks!  He has really gotten into throwing a ball around!  Oh how that makes Daddy happy!  Ryne seems to be right-hand dominant, but he can throw pretty well with both hands/arms! He is mimicking everything that I say.  I mean EVERYthing!  He mimics the intonation of what I say and how I say it!  He pretty much eats anything we eat...well anything that I eat.  He ate lasagna tonight and loved it!
Ryne had his 12 month well check today!  He got two shots, which were no fun.  He cried for a minute and then starred at the nurse with his death look, letting her know that she was on his "list!"  She even asked if he generally holds grudges!  He weighed in at a whopping 19lbs 12 oz, which is in the tenth percentile (on the preemie scale)!  His noggin is still holding out at in the upper 60s to low 70s on the preemie scale.  There must be a big ole brain in the big ole noggin!  He got the go-ahead on whole cow's milk - my purse is thankful for that!
We learned a few interesting things at this well visit.  The AAP recommendation is to know keep children in rear-facing car seats until 2!  WHAAAT!  I actually read this on a memorandum at Ryne's nine month well check, but thought I'd follow up on it.  Apparently, it's not a law, but HIGHLY recommended.  I talked to Dr. P about it.  He said that it is the safest thing, but after a child reaches 18 months or so, it's hard to keep them backwards in the car because they get very fussy!  Ryne still has a few pounds to go before he has to move out of his infant car seat, so we'll see how old he is when he finally reaches 22 lbs and go from there!  Ryne's really observant, so I have a feeling that making it to 18 months will be difficult with him sitting backwards.
Also, since Ryne has six teeth, I had to find out about dentistry!  Again the AAP recommends that you take your 1 year old to the dentist.  Dr. P says that there's really not much to be done at 1 year with six teeth unless there is a problem.  He recommends waiting until 3 before taking a trip to the dentist.  If Ryne has teeth like mine, he may be taking a trip before then. (nota bene: I say this as I am drinking a Pepsi and eating Sour Patch Extreme  Soft and Chewy candy!)
I'm excited to see what the next month and next year holds!

Today's a Day to Celebrate!

First things first - it's Ryne's first Birthday!  I refuse to say that he's 1 yet though because he was born at 1:45 pm so I'm savoring every moment of still having my "baby!"  It's a happy but sad day.  It's hard to see your baby grow up.  He's starting to look like a little boy, not a baby!   It's also been hard on me because I made myself and Ryne some promises that I would be in a better position with work by the time he was a year old, and I'm actually farther behind than when I made the promise!  I feel a little like a let-down!
Anywho, another reason to celebrate is that Ryne slept 11 hours last night without waking up!  That gets a big WHOO HOO in my book!  We did our bedtime routine.  Bath, bottle, book, brush and bed, and he cried for about five minutes when I put him down and then I didn't hear another peep until 8:30 this morning!  He didn't nap all that well yesterday.  His morning nap was great!  I had to wake him up after two hours!  His afternoon nap was a nightmare - basically he didn't take one.  He was tired and kinda cranky the rest of the evening, which is really no fun at all!
It will be interesting to see how tonight goes because Adam's parents are coming up this evening.  I wonder how the extra excitement will affect him going down for bed.  Here's hoping for the best, but I think we are on the right track regardless!

Happy Birthday to my cute, sweet, charismatic little BOY!

Sleep Diary - Night 5

Last night was probably the best night overall!  We unintentionally strayed from the bedtime routine last night.  Adam gets home kind of late on Monday nights so by the time he gets home and we eat, there is not much time left in the evening before little boys should be going to bed.  We are currently looking into either buying or building another house since we have definitely grown out of ours in less than three years!  So last night we drove by another subdivision to look at a floor plan we like!  We got back home around 9 o'clock which is when I like to put the baby down for bed.  Ryne actually fell asleep on the car ride home, which I feared could be as disastrous as Saturday night.  However, I was able to get Ryne out of the car and into the house with him awake, but still drowsy.  I held him a minute while Adam got in the house and closed the garage door (since it makes a lot of noise).  Ryne had been taking a small bottle in the car before he fell asleep so I thought he might still be a little hungry so I put him down in the crib, knowing he would cry while I made another bottle.  I got the water in the bottle and realized that he wasn't crying anymore.  I waited a few minutes and only heard a little whining off and on for less than five minutes before he was out cold!  Whoo Hoo!  I was so excited not to have to let me crying for over an hour!  It's very stressful having to listen to your child cry that long, so I was excited for a break and I'm sure Ryne's lungs were excited for a break too!
Ryne did wake up last night - twice.  He woke up at 1:30 and cried a few minutes.  I got up to check on him, but didn't go in his room.  I listened from outside the door.  He had gas!  He fell back asleep, so I got back in bed.  He woke up again at 2 AM and I could tell over the monitor that it was gas again!  Poor little guy, it must really hurt.  He fell back asleep within a few minutes!  He slept until 7:30 this morning, so ten hours or so!  Let me reiterate - Whoo Hoo!
Hopefully last night wasn't just a fluke!  The ultimate goal is for Ryne to go down for bedtime and naps without too much crying and then to stay asleep for 8 - 10 hours at bedtime!  It seems that we have eliminated the nighttime feeding, which is fabulous!  Hopefully we will have a good report to give the doctor on Thursday at the well visit!

Sleep Diary - Night 4

The sleep equation is getting a little unusual!  It seems that the length of time that Ryne cries when going down for his name is directly correlated to the length of time that he sleeps.  Last night Ryne cried almost an hour and a half.  The literature states that younger babies may cry 30 to 90 minutes before falling asleep.    Ryne's not a younger baby!  The bedtime routine really does seem to be working against us.  He knows what's coming and starts fussing.  At that point, I'm supposed to rock him until he calms down but he doesn't calm down!
He slept almost 9 1/2 hours last night without waking up.  And so far today he's had an hour and a half nap (would've been longer but a stinking telemarketer called) and a 45 minute nap.  So naptime hasn't been as good today.  I'm hoping tonight goes a little smoother (i.e. less crying - please and thank you!).  I take Ryne for his 12 month well visit on Thursday, so if he's still crying like a maniac for hours at bedtime then I'll discuss it then.
On another note, I cannot believe that Ryne will be a year old on Wednesday!  I Die!

Sleep Diary - Night 3

Yesterday afternoon, I packed Ryne up and took him to visit with Adam's parents.  I needed a break from a screaming crying baby and it's always good to have some time with the grandparents!  While at the Knies's, Ryne had a short nap - I think an hour long.  When I came to pick him up he was tried and wanted a bottle.    It was after 8 pm so I figured that a bottle and the car ride home would knock Ryne out, which in turn would hopefully make the night easier.
Well...I was wrong.  He did fall asleep, but woke up as soon as I pulled into the garage!  I thought maybe I could get him in the house, out of the car seat and in the bed before he became fully awake.  I was wrong about that too!  I gave him another small bottle and he started getting rowdy about half way through.  I put him in the crib and closed the door.  He cried for an hour and 15 minutes!  Longer than the nights before...combined!   I was so worried that he would still wake up during the night like he had in the previous nights, but I'm happy to report that he actually slept 9 hours without waking up!!! Major improvement!  When he woke up this morning he was crying, which is not good, but not all that bad either.  Generally if a baby wakes up crying it's because they didn't get enough sleep, they are hungry or wet, or something else is wrong.
So far today, Ryne has had two two-hour naps!  He hasn't taken two significant naps in day in a long time!  We had to wake him up after two hours both times.  We don't want him sleeping too much during the day!  He went down for his naps with minimal crying.
Hopefully tonight will be even better.  Hopefully less crying on the front end, but I'm SOOOO grateful for a full night's sleep last night!  He needs it!

Sleep Diary - Night 2

The nurse told me when she handed me the "Bible" that the first night was the worst and the first few nights would be rough.  Well...she was right in one respect and wrong in another.  The first night was actually better than the second, but both nights have absolutely sucked!  Last night, Ryne cried for 45 minutes before he finally fell asleep!  I mean seriously, I don't even have the energy for that!  After he cried that long I figured that maybe he would sleep through the night just from sheer exhaustion.  Wrong!  He woke up sometime around 3 AM and cried until 5:02!  Two hours of almost non-stop, inconsolable crying!  I let him cry a bit then got him out to hold him to calm him down, which didn't work.  I later offered a bottle, which he wouldn't take.  His cry progressed from scared to pissed!  He didn't want to be in his crib and he didn't want to be asleep.  He wanted me, but he didn't want me to do anything that might cause him to fall asleep again.  Oh how I wish I had a dumb baby sometimes, who wouldn't pick up on my plot!  I honestly believe Ryne is nothing shy of genius!  

After about an hour and a half of Ryne crying, I literally sat in the floor and silently cried and prayed.  Mom even came upstairs to check on things, but I shooed her away because I was so worried that it would rile him up even more.  Adam's parents offered to keep Ryne tonight so we could get some sleep, but I felt like it would be a setback.  Another bed, that he's hardly slept in, with another person trying to put him to sleep seemed like a recipe for disaster!  I would rather press on in hopes of breaking these bad habits as soon as possible!

I've learned a few things just in the past few nights.  The literature suggests routine, everyone does, but a routine is actually working against me.  Ryne knows the routine and knows the intended outcome, so know the fight starts earlier in the routine than it used to be.  So much for trying to give this child a bottle or read a book!  Last night he started clawing my face and kicking the book.  He is not an aggressive child, but this was a little more aggressive than I would like.  He will not take to a transitional object.  Poor Tad, he must be feeling quite lonely and abused since he gets thrown into the floor frequently!

I've also learned that going in to check on Ryne and rub his back to calm him down, does NOT calm him down.  It only makes matters worse.  If things don't improve I am going to call the nurse Monday to see if they have any other suggestions.

Diary of a Sleep Deprived Mother

If you are a mother, you are probably reading the title and thinking, "aren't we all!"  When you decide to have children, you go into it with the thought of knowing you will be losing some sleep, or no more sleeping in, which is all very true, but some of us have it more difficult than others!  Most other mothers that I talk to have children that sleep 12-14 hours a day and sleep through the night.  I am not so fortunate!
Ryne will be a year old on Wednesday, and he STILL doesn't sleep through the night!!!  I remember at Ryne's 2-week well visit, the pediatrician told me not to expect to sleep until Ryne was 3 months, 13 lbs and 3 chins (fat baby)!  I thought I was going to die right then and there because I LOVE sleep!  Three months of not sleeping through the night - Agggh!!  Well three months rolled around - still waking up at night for a feeding or two.  Thirteen pounds rolled around - still waking up at night, etc.  Three chins has never rolled around.  Ryne takes after me - he's on the thin side!  At three months Ryne was having a lot of sleep issues and spit-up issues, we took him to the pediatrician and found out that he had reflux - most babies do nowadays because of the "Back to Sleep" campaign, where babies are supposed to sleep on their back to reduce the risk of SIDS.  Ryne didn't grow out of his reflux as soon as we had hoped.   So Ryne continued to wake up at night for a feeding and had to take a bottle and be rocked to sleep every night and every naptime - not good!  To this day I can count on two hands the amount of times Ryne has slept at least 8 hours without waking up for a feeding!  This is where you pull your hair out!!
Recently, Ryne has stopped taking all his reflux medication and hardly spits-up - definitely nothing compared to what he used to do!  So, naturally we assumed that he would begin to sleep through the night.  Um, NO!  The sleep issue has gotten worse here recently.  He fights tooth and nail (sometimes literally) to avoid going to bed.  We've been putting him in his crib when he fights to let him cry a little and wind down, and then giving a bottle and rocking.  That method hasn't been working this past week and he is still waking up during the night for a feeding!  Most other mothers/parents that I've talked to have said to put him in his crib to cry and shut the door and don't go back in there.  There are some dangers to the Cry It Out method, like decreased oxygen intake from crying so long, not catering to true needs like pain, etc., and the development mistrust issues.  Those thoughts kill me and I feel like that's a little on the extreme side, but different strokes for different folks!
Finally yesterday, I had had enough!  A year of this nonsense, you've got to be kidding me!  Ryne had only slept 7 hours (bedtime and two naps) and cried for 45 minutes at naptime #2 so I decided to take him to the pediatrician.  Basically the pediatrician told me that Ryne is a "trained night crier and trained night feeder" - a double whammy, and it all stems from the reflux issues!  The pediatrician said "It's just not fair."  Ryne has developed an aversion to sleep because he associates sleep with pain (from the reflux) and since a reflux baby has to take smaller/more frequent feedings he has developed the habit of waking up during the night for food, even though he's not hungry.  The pediatrician gave me the "baby sleep Bible"..."according to Job" he added!  The sleep issues should be resolved in at least two weeks.  Ryne goes for his well visit next week so if he is still not sleeping through the night they will reevaluate.  So we are on day 2 of Hell Week! The first night is usually the hardest, which it was absolutely terrible last night!
The literature suggested I keep a sleep diary, so here we are folks - the Diary of a Sleep Deprived Mother - Day 1!  And yes I am aware that this is supposed to be for Ryne, but lets face it, I'm in this just as much as he is!
Last night Ryne went down fairly well.  He didn't go to sleep until 11:15ish.  I read his bedtime books, gave him a bottle and rocked him until he got drowsy.  I put him in his crib and he cried for about 8ish minutes.  He woke up twice during the night.  The first time he cried about 5 minutes and fell back asleep.  The second time is what makes the first night the worst!  Ryne's cry sounded different.  It was the 'I'm scared or in pain' cry. I still waited 10 minutes to see if he might go back to sleep.  After 10 minutes the crying continued and started to escalate.  So the literature says that you can get them out of the crib and hold them (contrary to what most  CIO parents do).  Ryne still cried and cried.  Finally I decided to make a bottle since a trained night feeder has to have the nighttime feeding tapered down.  Ryne refused the bottle, so I knew this was something different.  I gave him a little Motrin for pain and still the crying continued.  I tried rocking him, getting his best bud, Tad, out of the crib to hold, a pacifier - nothing was calming him down.  Finally about a hour later, he took a bottle while being rocked and started to drift off to sleep.  So I put him in his crib with Tad before he was completely asleep.  He let out a few whimpers and then finally fell asleep!  By the time I got back in bed, the sun was starting to come up!  I got back in bed after that emotionally exhausting hour and we both slept until 8:45.  So he slept more, even with the hour of crying, than he had the past two nights.  He is currently down for his first nap and has been asleep over an hour!  Yippeee!
This process is grueling.  It pulls at your heartstrings and wreaks havoc on your emotions that your child wants you/thinks they need you and you can't just go and pick them up and comfort them.  It tests your patience and your sanity.  It pushes you to the edge and then lets you dangle there by a thread!  You want to cry but you can't, you want to give up, but you owe it to your child and yourself to push through the pain.  Short term pain for long term gain, right?
Let me reiterate that not all babies are this way, so don't let me discourage you from having a child!  They are a blessing and there is no greater love!  However, this may be a great story to tell a teenager that thinks she/he is ready to take on "adult" activities!