Chronicles of Cry It Out - Day 1

Well, we did it. We bit the bullet. We had attempted CIO in the past, but it seemed like pointless torture for all three of us, because, really, we had quite a good little sleeper on our hands. She'd drift off to sleep while we snuggled her, transition smoothly into her crib, and sleep the night away. It was wonderful, it was easy, and who cares if she can't soothe herself? Then everything changed. She started waking up anywhere from one to FIVE times a night. As this progressed and my exhaustion worsened, I'd give up and bring her into bed with me. At least this way I could feed her without having to totally wake up. Well...she got pretty used to the comfort of having me so close. She stopped napping in her crib, demanding to be snuggled, or at least laying next to me for the duration of the nap. If I had to use the restroom, do laundry or get some food, the nap was over. When we put her down at night (asleep), she would wake up within the hour, refusing to go down again in her crib. But, if I just set her next to me, she'd fall asleep in minutes, without a fuss or whine. Slippery slope. Two weeks went by with baby in our bed. Tim was kicked out, cause there's just not room for all three of us. I would wake up, paranoid that she'd accidentally been covered by loose bedding and was in danger (never happened, but paranoia runs deep for new moms). This had to stop. So, Friday night, Tim and I had a plan. Charlie would be put in her crib and the first sign of drowsiness, and we'd listen over the monitor, set as low as possible, while playing Monopoly with a friend. It took an hour and ten minutes for our girl to stop screaming, and if it hadn't been for that game, I wouldn't have made it. Distractions help oh-so-much. When she finally stopped crying, I immediately went in to check on her (I had been peeking periodically from the door, but standing over her provides much more reassurance.) She was sleeping so peacefully, breathing slowly and deeply. She woke up two hours later, and I fed her and put her back down. She cried for fifteen minutes and was out until morning. The next day, she greeted me with a grin, didn't panic if I left the room, played on her own more than usual, and took longer naps in her crib. The process sucked, but it looked to be promising.