Last night was the first night of the heart-wrenching hell that is the infamous controlled-crying technique for my little lad, in his own bedroom for the first time ever. I was expecting such a big culture shock for him to be really unsettling and prompt huge protestations, but he took to it pretty well and slept for half an hour after only being comforted twice. I’m not saying it was a wonderfully blissful night of sleep, he woke at 9:35pm 11:30pm, 12:30am, 4:30am and then didn’t truly settle for more than half an hour after that. Which is why I’m sat here at 7:45am, breakfasted, a bit tidy and my daughter and I have already made another batch of Kracolates (correct spelling today) which are chilling in the fridge right now.
For those of you not ‘in the know’ about controlled-crying, it involves (as implied by the name, obviously) allowing your little one to cry for periods of time that are increased by one minute each time, up to ten minutes then plateau (fifteen mins max, but I don’t think I’m that brave). The idea is to reassure them that you will always come when they cry, but that they will have to sleep in their bed and settle themselves without you. Therefore, when they wake during the night, eventually, they will be able to settle themselves as older children and adults can. Interestingly, babies’ sleep pattern means that they come close to waking every hour potentially. I don’t think anyone can withstand comforting a crying child every hour through every night for very long, at least not without having your cheese slide off your cracker! After all, sleep deprivation is a recognised form of torture, which I fully agree with, as some nights I would’ve admitted to anything in the early months. But now that he’s six months old, tomorrow, hurrah for the technique!
Of course I’m sure that tonight, now that he knows what is expected of him, I’ll have a worse time of it. Thank goodness I’m not all that daft and have booked an appointment with my health visitor today, for a little fine tuning of the technique and hopefully a bit of a pep-talk. I also know that I might as well forget about having any kind of evening downstairs with my hubby for at least a week, although I’m sure he’ll be glad to have the tv to himself for a while, and I’ll be snatching what sleep I can by going to bed when the little ones do. What a crazy rock ‘n roll lifestyle I truly lead!
A little handy tip for any new mums trying this for the first time, that is helping me pass the minutes that feel like weeks when he is exercising his lungs, is to indulge in a bit of crochet or another favourite crafty pastime. Due to crochet not really involving any kind of concentration for me (after I learnt how at a sew make believe workshop), and it can be dropped it in a heartbeat when I needed to dash through to the next room, it was perfect for me to manage the dreaded clock-watching. I’ll probably have a blanket (the first one for me) finished by this time next week.
Also, when the little tinker is definitely sleeping, I’m catching up a bit on my reading, so I’ll be getting closer to my target of ‘books read’ on my goodreads webpage, fingers crossed. Last night I got through a good few pages of re-reading Charlaine Harris’ ‘Dead Until Dark’, naughtily neglecting the wonderful Mr Stephen Fry’s ‘Making History’. Another book that is getting a good thumbing at the moment, is ‘Babies! – A Parents’ Guide to Surviving (and Enjoying!) Baby’s First Year’, which is proving to be a great find, as it is written by a doctor applying professional knowledge and common-sense with sympathy. Refreshing my memory by referring to this book is nicely reassuring, and proves that I haven’t quite forgotten everything about baby care over the last few years of having an older child.
All these little distractions, I’m sure, are going to help control any crying I may do
🙂
