sleep.

Benjamin has been waking up every 2 hours to nurse since the day he was born. He has been the hugest blessing, a fabulous baby that hardly ever fusses or has anything to complain about EXCEPT for when it comes to sleep. A 9 month old should not be waking up every 2 hours to nurse. He has been sleeping in a pack n play in our room since he out grew his bassinet to accommodate this eating every 2 hours and to make things "easier" on me. Usually after his 5am feeding he would just end up in bed with John and I. I most definitely can not say that I don't enjoy him sleeping in bed with us. There is this amazing feeling of contentment when he is laying beside me asleep and I can smell his beautiful clean baby hair and see the peacefulness of God in his face. On the other hand, I haven't had more than 2 hours of consistent sleep in over a year. The severity of the situation was brought to my attention when Isaac (my nearly 3 year old nephew) stayed the night with us while my sister and brother-in-law when out for their anniversary. He couldn't sleep on his own. There I was in bed (a queen size bed) with John, Benjamin, myself and Isaac trying to get even a few winks of sleep. I realized if I didn't start trying to fix this problem that Benjamin would be 3 years old sleeping in our bed and this was no way to have a healthy marriage or get good sleep. I did some research and read a lot about babies crying themselves to sleep and the best thing I saw was a video clip my friend Clare sent me. It explained that in order for babies to learn to put themselves back to sleep (once they've been used to only falling asleep with milk (nursing)) they have to first learn how to put themselves to sleep initially and the best way to start this is with a routine.

So June 2, 2010 I decided it was the night to start. I began the routine with a bath followed by lotion and pajamas, nursing until very sleepy, a story and then prays. I laid Benjamin in the pack n play and then struggled through 46 minutes of screaming. Thank God my mom was talking me through it the whole time or I'm not sure I would have made it. I checked on him after 15 minutes, put his binky back in and reassured him that I loved him. 15 minutes later John did the same and 15 minutes after that I did it 1 last time and he fall asleep a minute later. Success. Benjamin still woke up 2 hours later and needed to nurse to go back to sleep but I reminded my self that he first had to learn how to fall asleep before he could learn how to fall back to sleep.

Night #2, mild crying for 19 minutes. I could do this. Still waking every 2 hours to nurse but I had hope.

Night #3, less than 15 seconds of whimpering and the boy was asleep.

WOW! I felt like more than a conqueror! A few more nights of this and we might get some where! Every night from there on out was a little different, some with mild whimpering some with crying up to 5 minutes but nothing I couldn't handle. During 1 of his night feedings I went to the bathroom after he started crying before picking him up to feed him and realized that if I wasn't in his sight he stopped crying. After going to the bathroom I sat in the hall for about 5 minutes. Not ideal, but he did put himself back to sleep.

June 15, 2010 I had decided would be the first day of Benjamin sleeping in his crib in his room. After adjusting his crib to be lower down and running through the routine I laid him down. Not much more than a minute of crying and he was out. I was so proud. ...until he woke up crying 20 minutes later. I let him cry and he was back alseep a few minutes later. I thought, "Ok, this is good" until 30 minutes later he was at it again. This time the crying went on for 5+ minutes and now he had woken Iggi and they were both crying. I couldn't handle this, I needed sleep. So I went and got Benjamin and he slept with us the rest of the night.

June 16, 2010 we went through our normal routine and this time daddy prayed after story time. I felt God VERY clearly speak to me "Anoint him with oil". I know when God speaks, it's a VERY good idea to listen. As soon as John finished praying I said, "Hold on, we need to pray again. God told me to anoint him with oil". I went over to the linen closet and grabbed some oil, anointed Benjamin's head and said another prayer. I felt such peace. I laid Benjamin in his crib and walked out. He cried for a few seconds and then he was asleep. At almost exactly the 2 hour mark he started to cry. John went in and gave him his binky and he cried on and off for a few minutes but then put himself back to sleep. I went to check on him a few minutes later and his binky was on the floor but he was asleep. John and I went to bed and even though I was feeling a little strange without Baby in the room, I feel asleep. I woke at 2:15am (I'm sure out of habit) and went to the bathroom. I laid back down but couldn't go to sleep. Had Benjamin really been sleeping in his crib for almost 5 hours??? He's never slept that long in his life! I checked on him to make sure he was ok and he was as cute as can be fast asleep. I laid there for a while just trying to fall back to sleep. At 2:45am I heard him whimper for about 5 seconds and that was it. I couldn't believe my baby had just put himself back to sleep.

It is now 3:51am and Benjamin is still asleep. Mommy on the other hand, had to take advantage of this quiet time to get the story written down so I can recall the details in the morning.

God has been so good to me. Blessed me with the most incredible family and friends. I shall now indulge in some tea and toast and try to go back to sleep.


James 5:14&15 "Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven."