Crow: It's What's For Dinner

I take back everything I said in the last post. Co-sleeping is not working for us. 

Cuteness: babies' survival mechanism?

It did at first; we all slept well in the "family bed." But eventually it was too much of a good thing for Wyatt. He was distracted by our nearness -- I would be woken up at 4 a.m. with a tiny fist squeezing my nose, or grabbing my throat. And the proximity to me meant that Wy wanted to eat constantly at Mom's All Night Snack Bar. Also, a queen-size bed isn't big enough for 3 people, even if one of them is the size of a large housecat. Ultimately we were getting less sleep than we did when he was a newborn, and waking up exhausted -- all of us. 

Wyatt's playful side ...

In the end, we decided to exile ourselves from our own room so Wy could learn to sleep for a long stretch, undistracted by our presence. We didn't want to try the full-on "cry it out" method (which seemed sadistic after inviting Wyatt into the coziness of our bed) , so instead we did a modified version, in which we went to him and rubbed his back when he woke up and cried -- but we did not pick him up or feed him. We slept in the studio, which is on a different floor, and is soundproof! (But we kept the door cracked so we could hear him.)

... and his pensive side.

The first night, he woke up every 2 hours, and fell back asleep after about 20-30 minutes of back-rubbing. The second night, he woke up every 3 hours and fell asleep after 5-10 minutes of back rubbing. The third and fourth nights, he woke up after 6 hours. Success!! 


I feel amazing, at least in comparison to how wraithlike I felt last week. The Boys feel better, too. How will we maintain or improve this sleep pattern? Stay tuned ...