Time for Training?

Ambitious as I am, I’m not talking about potty training.  What I am talking about is baby training.  Until this point, I haven’t been much for “training” my little man.  My approach has been to just respond to his needs as he has them and it has worked for the most part since I’m home full time for him.  The only issue that has become an issue for the entire family is SLEEP!  Or rather, the lack thereof.

I’ve tried making sure he has a full belly, making sure he’s been active enough, “wearing him down” in the baby carrier, reading books, bath time, singing, swaddling, patting, bouncing…

Full belly, well that generally just lands me a full diaper about a half hour after he falls asleep.  Him being active enough seems to help with how long he’ll sleep for, unless I wear him out a hair too soon which results in a solid nap as we are preparing for bed and a second wind when we are ready.  “Wearing” him works wonderfully, unless I wish to put him into his bed instead of keeping him in the carrier and walking all night.  Reading books is a riot – he has NO interest in them at all unless he is throwing them or stacking them.  My reading to him seems to annoy him more than almost anything else.  Bath time works well, but since we only have a shower, this means the both of us get wet, I hand warm tired baby to a Poppa in a cold room and he has to wait until I’m done and dry before I can nurse him down.  Singing is our good old standby here.  He seems to respond well to my voice, but when he’s determined, well – he out sings me for sure!  Swaddling is almost neccessary, but we’re at a point where he can get out… you see where I’m going with this.

I had the opportunity to work with a very unique woman who had a different ethnic background a few years ago in daycare.  She had raised her children and taken care of many many more throughout her life.  She taught me a number of tricks to aid in putting infants to sleep.  By the time I stopped working with her, I could confidently put four babies to sleep at one time, feed three bottles and change diapers like my life depended on it.  She taught me how to lay a swaddled baby on a pillow across my ankles and rock my legs to lull him to sleep.  She taught me to bounce my legs, to pat a baby on their back rather firmly, the value of a song being sung in a very rhythmic manner.  Many many tricks.  Usually, they worked fairly quickly.  It was wonderful.  Especially since I was often left with 4 or 5 infants on my own.

So now, I have one.  Only one.  Do I have success in sleeping?  NO!  Finally, today, I went to lay him in his bed and as soon as he felt the mattress he pitched a fit.  Not a whimper or a casual complaint, a fit.  I decided to fight it out.  That might sound awful, but seriously, letting him get up and play when he was that tired would have been horrible, as would starting over and over nursing and rocking and attempting.  So… I kept repositioning him to be on his belly, kept his little bum down and patted his back for what seemed like forever.  An elbow on a bum, one hand patting lower back, one hand patting upper back, I kept trying and trying.  I called one of teh pups up into his bed with him, the other to the floor beside and kept patting and patting.  Finally, almost 40 minutes later I’d guess, his eyes were finally fluttering and staying shut.  The sleep-nursing began and it was all over.  Oh my word!  As exhausting as the fit was for him, I think the process was as rough on me.  His crying breaks my heart, and I long to find the perfect sleep solution for him.  Meanwhile, I think we’re going to re-train.  I think that during naps in the daytime, I’m going to start trying to get him down in his bed with him having some idea of what is going on.  I think.

On the one hand I feel like I just tortured my child when obviously I should have just held him close and nursed him to his heart’s content.  On the other hand, with teething and growing and habits and all, that little heart never gets content like it did when he was tiny, and eventually he’ll have to go to sleep without the elaborate hour long routine that we’ve fallen into.  All of that said, seeing him sleeping there in front of me, with one pup at his feet, the other at the floor next to him and his little face looking so peaceful… what am I even worried about.  All is now right with the world!