Gotta Love This Life...

I have a deep, dark secret, which most of my friends and family already know, so I guess it's not much of a secret really... I have a 9-month old. No, that's not the secret. She is beautiful and smart and makes us laugh every day. She loves to smile and giggle, and she watches everything! No, that's not the secret, either. Hunter absolutely, without fail, will NOT sleep through the night. There. I finally admitted it. I know, it's shocking.

Lena will beg to go to bed at 7pm, and sleep soundly until I have to rouse her at 6:30am for daycare. She takes 2-hour naps AT DAYCARE, and still is asleep almost every night by 7:30pm. She has been a very easy, heavy sleeper since day 1. Literally, we had to wake her up to feed her!

Hunter. NOT. SO. MUCH. We feed her anything she will eat (which is pretty much anything), at dinner, then get her a bottle before bed. I rock and feed her the bottle until she's sleepy. I try not to let her go all the way to sleep, but sometimes, it's inevitable. I then take her upstairs and put her to bed. Promptly 2.5 hours later, she wakes screaming for a bottle. She downs almost the whole 7 ounces before (or while) passing out. I put her back to bed. She wakes again between 1 and 2am, screaming again. I give her a bottle and rock her back to sleep. She is usually awake by 6:30 when I have to get the girls up for daycare.

Hunter likes her crib. I know this because when she wakes for the day, she will contentedly lay there, playing with her hands or blankie or paci or whatever happens to be in the crib. She does not cry when I put her back in her crib after I've dressed her and while I get Lena up and dressed. She will go to sleep on her own in her crib with no issues. Most of the time. But, dammit, that kid will NOT soothe herself back to sleep when she wakes in the night.

So, the question is, what to do?? I'm really tired of getting up twice a night to feed/rock her back to sleep. I really love that time with her, but I NEED some full nights of sleep!

We are now trying 'sleep training' her, which as anyone who has tried it will tell you, just means to let her cry till she finally gives it up and goes to sleep. Night One went something like this: Feed Dinner, make bottle, change into jammies, rock and have bottle, read a story, to the bed. Where she cried. And cried. And screamed. And cried. While I tried to soothe her by telling her in my most soothing voice that "Mama's here, Hunter, it's time to go to bed now. Mama loves you Hunter. It's time to go to bed."  45 minutes later, I was able to wolf down some leftover pasta and have a beer (natch). I heard a few brief little whimpers before I went to bed at 9, but she was pretty much out. At 11pm, she woke up screaming bloody murder. I went in and tried to soothe her. I even picked her up and calmed her down, only to have her screaming again when I put her back in the crib. At 11:15, Justin gave up and gave her a bottle, had her completely asleep, and then she woke up as he was putting her down. After another half hour or so, she finally conked out. She slept through till 4:45am. This is definitely an improvement. From 4:45 till 6am, she screamed, despite my efforts to calmly soothe her. Finally, at 6am, I got her up for the day with our 'big wake-up.' Brought her downstairs, where she drank a bottle and ate some Cheerios while I resumed my morning routine. By the time we got to daycare at 7:20, of course she had fallen asleep in the car. I hope to goodness she sleeps at Shellie's today, so maybe she will sleep tonight. Here's hoping. And, I've got at least 2 more Summer Shandies in the fridge to help ME sleep better! :)

I really try to keep all of this in perspective, as there are many families dealing with much more eventful, serious things than lack of sleep. I wear my "Just Win, Ruby" bracelet as a constant reminder of this, even though it's just a red rubber band now... all the letters have long since washed down the drain. (For more information about Ruby, visit her website at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/rubykahoun)

For now, I'm trying to keep it all together. Trying to stay awake at work. And trying, desperately, to figure out how to help Hunter sleep better! Any tips or tricks would be greatly appreciated!