Sleeping Update

Everyone has been so kind and supportive on Facebook about my sleeping issues with my little toddler.  Thank you so much to everyone for your encouragement, advice and prayers.  I've been getting a lot of questions and people asking for updates about how he is doing, so I thought I'd follow up on the issues.

It hasn't been very long since my last post-- not even a week.  But we have seen great improvements!  I can't really pin-point what exactly made the switch, but I can tell you the things that we are doing differently.  First of all, I haven't been completely honest.  I've made this problem sound like it was all McCoy's fault.  But in hindsight, it was completely mine.  Not McCoy's, and not Whit's.  It was all my fault.  I created this sleep problem and I was trying to convince myself that I was trying to fix it, but I wasn't.  I was so sleep deprived (and still suffering from it) that I would do anything to get a little shut-eye.  This meant that I was allowed McCoy to use me like a door-mat.  But all that changed this week, with a little help from you and a lot of help from Whit and McCoy's doctor.

We started getting McCoy ready for bed at 7:00 pm.  This is NOT ideal for me.  It's too early.  Half the time, Whit isn't even home from work and we haven't eaten dinner as a family (eating dinner as a family is very important to us as well).  So, 7:00 pm is too early for me.  But after dinner, we take a bath, get on our pjs, take our medicine, read a book.  Then I lay him down, run my fingers through his (short) hair and let him know that I will be there if he needs me, but it's time to go to sleep.  He screams and cries for 20 minutes.  I go in again, lay him back down, and do the procedure again.  Then he screams and cries fr 20 minutes (sometimes 15, because it's just that sad).  Then I go in again, lay him down, and magically he falls right asleep!

Since our change in routine, he has been sleeping through the night with only one or two wake-ups.  One night (our second night), he slept through the night without waking up once.  Then about 6:00 am, I told him that Mommy was still tired and if he wanted he could come lay down with us in our bed.  And he slept until 8:15.  So, it was a great night for all.

I've also seen a HUGE change in his behavior.  He hasn't had a temper tantrum in a few days and if he wants something, he usually is patient until I am able to fix the problem.  That was probably the one thing that was driving me crazy the most.  Because after a night full of numerous wake-ups, the last thing I wanted to deal with was a child who was screaming and whiny all day long!  But so far, so good.

KNOCK ON WOOD!!!