Exhaustion has its' Advantages

I have pretty weak resolve when it comes to "sleep training" my kids. I really like the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Dr. Marc Weissbluth because it makes a lot of sense to me, and it allows for flexibility. And I completely agree with the title. But, actually making a plan of action has always been hard for me. It was awful letting Benjamin cry for a few nights when he was a baby. I almost caved so many times, but I have never regretted that decision since. He sleeps, and is so much better for it.

Peter was in our bed for the first two months of his life until finally I worked up enough drive to make him sleep in his crib. I now sleep better, he sleeps better, and I still don't know what took me so long. Something about walking on cold wood floors in the middle of the night....

So Peter never slept through the night on his own like some newborns supposedly learn to do. On good nights, he'd wake up at 11 p.m., 3 a.m., and then 6 a.m. Recently I started using some Luvs diapers (they were given to us) and his nights got even worse. He got up probably 5 times a night, and about 3 of those times, he had completely wet through his pajamas and several blankets (the diaper of course was barely wet). I was so mad at those diapers. I am now a very loyal Huggies customer.

As soon as I put him back in the regular diapers, we were back to the normal wake up times, but I was exhausted. So exhausted in fact, that I completely slept through the 11 p.m. wake up time (Paul didn't, which is how I know) and Peter slept until 3 a.m. It happened again last night, and he slept until 4 a.m.! I know, I know, exciting. So he's close to sleeping through the night, and I didn't even have to deal with the emotional turmoil that goes along with it. Hooray for sleep!