Sleep Training

Well, today we begin our wonderful journey into sleep training. This is a concept totally new to me, as Colin would fall asleep anywhere, anytime. Caleb, on the other hand, sleeps only 6 hours every 24 hours. And most of that is in half our catnaps.

We had his 4 month doctor's appointment today. I went in with a list James and I created of all Caleb's symptoms and problems - sleeping, eating, throwing up, and generally on edge all day. As it turns out, the doctor said the entire list can be attributed to not enough sleep! Apparently, he should be sleeping 14 hours every 24! No wonder he (and I) is exhausted!

Our doctor just returned from maternity leave, and had the exact same issues with her baby, so her advice was coming from a very personal experience. She walked me through what needs to be done, with the hope that in less than a week everything should be worked out. Poor Colin might also suffer, though, as we'll need to let Caleb fuss himself back to sleep during the night. Well, at this point I'm ready to try anything!

(Right now Caleb is screaming the house down. He woke up from his nap and is very obviously still exhausted. I rocked him back to sleep three times, which only lasted 5 minutes each time. So this time I'm going to wait it out a little bit).

This is new for me. I'm not normally of the "cry it out" parenting, but as nothing else seems to be working, I'm hoping this will. The few moments a week when Caleb is in a good mood, he's the happiest guy on the planet. He loves to laugh, and has a huge, great, big smile that twinkles in his cheeks and eyes. Once he starts to get enough sleep, this side of Caleb should emerge as his permanent character. Come on, bright and happy Caleb...I know you're in there!