Then I got a great book in the mail: The No Cry Sleep Solution. I decided long before this book arrived that it was going to save my life. It's all about babies and sleep and it describes an alternative way to help them sleep better, rather than just letting them cry it out. I learned all about how much sleep B really needs, how many naps she should be taking, and other great tips. Some of the stories sure made B look like a great sleeper! Her main problem is naps and a huge fit right before she goes down for the night- but that's just colic. Once she goes to sleep for the night she does ok. Sometimes gets up once or twice to eat, but goes back to sleep. I learned I should be putting B to bed earlier. No one told me to put her to bed at 7 or 8...How was I suppose to know that? I just figured the later she went to bed, the later she would sleep. Isn't that logical? I also didn't really do any sort of bedtime routine. This was mainly because her routine is to scream her head off for several hours and then eventually nurse to sleep around 10pm (if we are lucky...) So I decided I was going to attempt this early to bed with a bedtime routine thing.
So my plan was: bath at 7pm (not a good start since she hates baths now...) then dad reads her 3 books (while she screams) then turn the lights off and the sound machine (rain) on, and PRAY that she falls asleep nursing. Well I was just sure my life problems were solved when she was ASLEEP at 8pm. It was wonderful. Stephen and I didn't know what to do with ourselves. We should have gone to bed. Cause she got up twice to eat and was wide awake at 3:30. Me and Stephen and Blakely spent the night in the living room, with the swing, and she was in and out of sleep until around 9.
We were also suppose to get a "light dusting" of snow and then some rain that day and instead got like 5 inches. Sick. of. snow. How did I do life without my hunter wellies? Anyway, after crying all day long, she did not go to sleep again until 1am the next morning. And even then she did not sleep good. So in 24 hours she had really only gotten a few hours of good sleep. I was beginning to think this book actually RUINED my life. So I did the only obvious thing I should do, I called my mom. duh. She said I should take her to the doc cause she might have an ear infection. That never occurred to me because for one thing, Blakely is always cranky and doesn't sleep well (just not quite this bad...) and she didn't have a fever. But apparently you can have an ear infection with no fever. I am such an amateur. Sure enough, right ear infection. Poor girl. So by the time we got home at 2pm and B was asleep in her carseat....there was NO WAY I was moving her. "I'll never let my baby sleep in her carseat, or swing, or in our bed...blah blah blah." I've already repented, but I repent again. Of all the silly things I said I would or wouldn't do as a parent, when I wasn't a parent.
I was watching Super Nanny last night, and was scared out of my mind, because for the first time ever, it occurred to me that it could happen to me!
So now that she has barely slept, and has a little tylenol in her, she just doesn't have the energy to cry. In all seriousness, the past 24 hours has been the least this girl has cried and the best she has slept in a couple months. She's even happy when she is awake. That's right, WHEN SHE'S AWAKE. Not for just 5 minutes like usual. Do I have to give her the antibiotics? I like sick on tylenol Blakely better than screaming for no reason Blakely. Kidding. Of course I hate that my baby is sick. duh. But it is a nice change when she is sweet when she's awake and lays her head on my chest and goes to sleep when she's tired. Stephen and I have been dreaming that maybe the ear infection "cured" her colic. ha. But wouldn't that be cool?
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