Max in Training

Athletes all over the world are in training for the summer Olympics, and students across Texas are in training for football season and marching season. Max is in training too, but a quite different kind. He is being schooled in the ways of falling asleep.

When we first brought Max home from the hospital he made it known that he preferred to be held while sleeping, rather than being placed by himself in a crib or bassinet. For a few nights I tried to sleep in a rocking chair, holding him in my arms (resting on a Boppy). Then a lactation consultant reminded me of side-lying nursing and suggested that I consider co-sleeping. I was desperate for some shut-eye, so I gave it a go. It worked well for us and so that's what we did. We changed the bedding to be as safe as possible and I made sure to avoid medications/alcohol that would put him at risk of being smothered. I woke to his movements with ease and was able to nurse him back to sleep before he got too wound up. Really, it was a great arrangement for both of us.

Alex was okay with it, but occasionally brought up the question of how long we would do this. In December he convinced me to try to let Max cry it out, after our pediatrician told us that at 6 months, he should be able to sleep through the night by now. Hearing him cry was absolute torture. Every fiber of my being told me that Max wasn't ready for this, and that I certainly wasn't ready either. I begged Alex to let us wait for another few weeks or months, because the timing was just so terrible. My mom had just been diagnosed with lung cancer and Christmas was just a week away. The stress was just unbearable when we added in what felt like intentional torture of our son.

We agreed to try again when he was 9 months old but he got a cold, then I got a cold, then Alex was traveling, and then we were going to be out of town twice in May and again in July. So, we agreed to do it after we got back from visiting Alex's parents in Indiana and had no other travel plans for a while.

Night #1
I put Max in his crib after nursing him to a good and drowsy state. I told him I loved him and left the room. Max cried for 2 minutes, Alex went in, laid him back down and told him everything would be okay. He cried for 4 more minutes, and Alex went back in. He cried for almost 6 minutes, and Alex went back in. Max cried for 4 minutes, and Alex checked on him after 8 minutes had passed (learned that it wasn't a good idea to check on him when he wasn't crying any more). He cried for 4 more minutes and was fine for the next 6, so Alex decided not to check on him since he would just cry. From the video monitor, Alex could see that Max started to squat for a while, then sat for a while, then laid down and when to sleep after another 10 minutes. Max woke up 3 times that night, but only once Alex went in to check on him.

Night #2
Max fell asleep in my arms before I got a chance to put him down in his crib. He woke up 3 times that night, but only cried for 1-2 minutes, so we never needed to go in to check on him. We decided 6:00 was the goal, and when he woke up and cried after that time had come, Alex brought him into our bed for him to have a good long snack.

Night #3
I put Max down in his crib, which was met with an excruciating cry of protest and I left the room. Really - I have never seen him cry out so upset before in his life. But what happened next was AMAZING. He cried for about 1 minute and appeared to be asleep within the next 5 minutes. Not only that, he slept through the night!