Monday, January 16, 2006

Out of the blue... a perfect night!

So, after Saturday's horrendous experience we decided that we were going to try giving Oliver as much love and attention as he needs to get him to go to sleep. Some late-night reading on Saturday night seemed to indicate that leaving him to cry is not recommended at this age - even though I've come across plenty of parents who have done so - and frankly anything would be preferable to seeing him so distressed while not being sure it's the right thing to do.

And if he needs a dummy to go to sleep at night, so be it. Hopefully he will go to sleep and then sleep through and not need it in the night. There are certainly going to be times when he isn't going to go to sleep without it and his distress without it can't be helping him learn that bedtime is a happy, safe time.

So last night (Sunday) we prepared ourselves for a possible long night, particularly as during the day he had shown signs of being a bit under the weather, possibly an earache as he kept rubbing his ear and had been out in the buggy in the morning. In the afternoon he wouldn't even take a nap with the help of his dummy. So we gave him some Calpol. He finally fell asleep and slept for two hours. This put his feed back by an hour and half.

He was rather grizzly from about 7.15pm and Hayley played with him for an hour to keep him happy. Eventually he started to show signs of tiredness around 8.20 so we took him upstairs to put him to bed. We also gave him Calpol again.

He didn't want much of his milk but after several pauses and getting wind up he managed 7 ounces. He was drowsy by this point but Hayley made sure he was awake when she put him down in his cot. By the light of our mobile phones we could see him as he lay there quietly looking up at us. After a few moments we left the room.

To our delight he then went straight to sleep without a murmur! And to my surprise he didn't wake and cry before we went to bed about an hour later.

This morning I woke at 5.45am. I heard him make a tiny sound on the monitor but he didn't wake. I slept fitfully after that, half expecting him to wake.

Finally at 8am we got up. He had made it right through the night without waking and after going to bed without complaint! It was a great feeling just to know that he could do that.

Of course, I'm wondering now whether the Calpol played a part, but if it's just paracetamol then surely it shouldn't make any difference except to take away any pain?

If I can just start to believe this is the start of him sleeping through more I can start sleeping better myself and not lie there waiting for him to wake.