A couple weeks ago Steve installed the air conditioners, those hulking, loud cubes of cool that perch on our window sills, in our master bedroom and in Avelyn’s nursery. The first night we had them turned on I pulled out the baby monitor, which had been collecting dust under our bed, and told Steve, “I need to keep this on at night so I can hear if Avelyn needs me in the night.”
“You’re not turning that thing on again,” Steve stated.
“Why not? It’s so loud with both a/c units going that I can’t hear her without it. What if she has a bad dream or needs a bottle or something?” I countered.
“Amanda, you said you were going to stop giving her a bottle in the night when she turned one year old. Now she’s nearly two and you’re still getting up at least 4 times a week to give her one. Stop the madness!” he explained.
He was right. Avelyn no longer needs a bottle in the night, and it had simply become a habit for me to stumble out of bed in the wee hours of the morn and toss some milk into her crib to lull her back to sleep. Some mornings her pajamas, crib sheet, and mattress liner would be soaked with pee from all the liquid I had given her in the night. It was bad for her teeth and bad for my sleep requirements. But then she’d sleep right through the night for a few days and I’d think, “This is it. She’s finally doing it. She is capable of making it through without a bottle.” However, those spurts never lasted long and she’d be back to waking up and calling out, “Bottle!” at three a.m.
So. In the past two weeks, since our air conditioners have been loudly whirring through the nights and I can’t hear Avelyn down the hallway in her room*, I have been sleeping peacefully and our daughter has been doing the same. It took a few nights, and she did put up a protest, as the company who slept in our basement can attest to, but it’s been worth it. She does not need a bottle, and I do need my sleep, especially with a new baby on the way. There’s no way I could deal with the night time feeding demands of a newborn, peppered by wakings of my toddler. So there you have it: she sleeps through the night and sure, she might have cried about it, but I couldn’t hear the wailing, so it wasn’t as rough a process as I had anticipated.
*So you don’t think I’m completely negligent and heartless, I can hear Avelyn when she’s really crying, so it’s not like I couldn’t hear her if she were sick or hurt or in trouble. Â The air conditioner simply provides enough white noise that I don’t hear her every move and whimper in the night.
13 Comments
Hooray for progress!
Yay for sleeping through!!
My 3 yr old wakes sometimes when the newborn cries in the night, but I think he’s getting used to be stirred. Their rooms are right next to each other, so it seems inevitable….
Awesome for staying in bed! Isn’t it a luxury??
SO HAPPY you are getting enough sleep. You need to rest up for baby number two!
Yeh for Avelyn. The last thing you want is to be getting up with 2 kids every night. Not only that but when it comes to potty training it is way easier if the intake at bedtime/night is non existent. Now it will just be your bladder that wakes you up!
“she might have cried about it, but I couldn’t hear the wailing,”
that’s awesome because hearing her cry was the hardest part. When M was about 14 months I weaned her off her 4 AM feeding and it was awful the first couple of nights. By night 3 I was so tired I couldn’t care less – I stirred for a moment and then fell back asleep. Night 4 was silent. It’s been a pretty solid 7 months of 7pm to 7am nights since then.
Well done you (and Avelyn). Congratulations!
Don’t feel bad at all! I ended my son’s night feedings at 7 months. Not that I didn’t go in and console him once or twice when he’d cry, but it only took a couple of nights and he slept through without waking. I think it’s harder on us than it is on them!
Good for you! And hooray for a little white noise!
Good for you! There is always something to “wean” them off of. Next she’ll be in a big girl bed…running out to you, and the potty training! and nightly visits to the potty! Oh the joys.
D’s been a great sleeper for the past five months – until F was born. Since then (two weeks ago) he’s gotten three new teeth and been up crying every night. What luck… us parents can’t ever win.
Good sleep is an absolute must! Good for you that you are getting what you can now before the baby arrives!
High five. Way to be a toughie…I know it isn’t easy, but man was it worth it!
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