Thursday, May 30, 2013

Baby Hell

Well, just when I thought things were getting better, life (aka, Noah) throws a big fat old ugly crying wrench at me.

All of a sudden, he's been crying his head off instead of sleeping as if he never learned to sleep in his crib.  Last night, I actually let him cry for 2 hours in his crib before finally rescuing him.  TWO HOURS!  Judah never cried that long when I sleep-trained him--45 minutes tops.  But Noah has the stamina of a team of wild horses, apparently.  The dude cried like he was being dipped in battery acid for TWO HOURS and probably would've kept going if I had the heart to let him.

In general, Noah's napping/sleeping has deteriorated to the point where I absolutely dread nap times and bedtimes.  At some point I know I will be asking myself to make the impossible choice--pick him up and risk 'spoiling' him or let him cry for a long time and feel myself shrivel up and die.

Noah and his horrible eye infection.

To make matters worse, whenever Noah cries for a long time his eye infection gets much much worse.  In general, his eye is not getting any better and it's making me beyond frustrated and sad.  It looks so flaming angry and red after a big cry session--like something that spawned from the evil of Mordeth in Shadar Logoth (so sue me, I'm a fantasy nerd going through the Wheel of Time series while I'm waiting for G.R.R. Martin to take his sweet honey time finishing Book 7-9 of Game of Thrones.  Any day now Martin!)

Anyway, where was I?

Oh yeah, hell.  Baby hell.  A land where everyone's tired and cranky but nobody sleeps.  Ever.

Population: me.

4 comments:

xtinehlee said...

ohman. girl, it's okay to pick up your baby. you're not spoiling him. i hear sleep training is hard--occasionally, they break from the program and i hear you have to "retrain" them again.

i gave in and co-sleep with P and carry her all the time in my sling.

CP said...

I'm so sorry! I totally agree that it is ok to pick up your baby andhold him until he sleeps. if that makes your life easier, go for it! I did a combo of rocking to sleep and sleep training. do what keeps you sane! Jacob only napped while I held him. I watched a lot of deperate housewives when he was a baby :)

Alice in Wonderland said...

Thanks ladies.

Christine--I love that whole attachment thing, co-sleeping and baby-carrying. A few more nights like this and I might just break down and embrace it!

CP--so glad to hear that my kids aren't the only ones who SUCK at napping and that it doesn't completely preclude sleep training!

xtinehlee said...

@Alice: We tried to do baby-sleeps-in-crib thing...but one day in desperation, I took her to nap with me and it was the BEST sleep I'd had in..FOREVER. And from that point on, we totally got on the co-sleeping boat.

Same with the whole carrying baby in a sling--she's happier, and I'm happier. She ends up in my arms anyway--might as well bond and keep things happy all around. In fact, she is a giggly laughing baby for it.

But this only works because I am game for it, and it's what I want. I totally understand there are people out there for whom this does not work--i.e., sanity comes with more space from baby. Which is why I love that there are myriad parenting methods!

It's great to pick and choose. And unfortunately, sometimes our babies choose for us. And that's the road we have to take. ;)