It’s been a few days since I declared the “sleep training” to be complete. I guess I should have been more clear about that… Um… yeah. So, phase one of sleep training is complete.
In my mind, this means that I know that, in normal circumstances, my 6 month old daughter knows how to get herself to sleep for naps and bedtime, and, if she wakes in the middle of the night, she can get herself back down fairly quickly.
Now we’ve moved on to “Sleep Training 301,” the upper-classmen level course.
No sooner did I hit “publish” on my “sleep training is complete” post when Lulu started up with teething pains again and, this time, with a vengeance. It’s been a REALLY tough week because we’ve had to do this delicate dance of responding to Lulu when she’s uncomfortable / in pain from the teething to trying to hold the line on the sleep training and keep a healthy sleep schedule going.
On Monday, Lulu cut her first tooth. She was fussy, fussy, fussy all day. Plus she was really overdue for a poop. Tuesday was also a pretty fussy day, but the night was perfectly smooth. Then Wednesday she was all smiles, flirty, sunny, perfectly content, but then awoke at 3 AM screaming and generally inconsolable. I backed off of the sleep training after an hour of her fussing, almost getting to sleep, then re-waking herself, round and round. At 4 AM, I fed her and she settled enough to be able to put herself back to sleep about 20 minutes later. Rough night. Today, she was incredibly uncomfortable and generally not-to-be-pleased all day, but went to sleep like a dream at bedtime. Just before bed, lo and behold, there was tooth number two!
I wish I had some magic eight ball to answer my questions at all times about sleep training, much less every other aspect of parenting. In most respects, I feel like the Sleepeasy Solution book has been that magic eight ball where sleep is concerned, and will continue to be as Lulu grows into other sleeping issues (separation anxiety, eg). However, it obviously can’t cover the minute-to-minute desperation of a parent wanting to console their child, but not knowing if it’s resistance crying or discomfort.
I think if, by reacting to her during teething pain, we somehow backtrack in the sleep training… that’s okay. We can always start back at the beginning of the book and move forward again. Besides, parenting isn’t a science, it’s an art, and I’m just trying to do the best I can at each turn in the road with the information I have at the time.
