Cry it Out

Kurt and Kate went to Tennessee this weekend to visit Grandma and Grandpa.  I stayed behind so I could give Luke a chance to "cry it out".  We took away his swaddle immediately following his doctor appointment last week.  He's been crying himself to sleep ever since.  First night was about 50 minutes, second 20 minutes and we haven't had more than 5 or so since then.  Next my goal was to let him "cry it out" so we would be routinely sleeping through the night.  Unfortunately, it out didn't go that well.  It's harder than you think.  Sunday he slept until 5am and I let him cry until 5:45, but technically with cry it out they have to cry until they go back to sleep.  I just didn't think that was going to happen.  And Monday morning he was up at 4am.  I let him cry (on his belly) until 4:30. Then I went in and flipped him on his back and left him there thinking it was more likely he'd cry himself to sleep.  At 4:45 it sounded like he was hyperventilating (probably because he knew I was out there as I'd just flipped him over) so I let him go 10 more minutes and then caved.  I rocked him for 10 minutes to try and calm him down and at 5:05 I broke down and gave him milk.  He took 3 oz and I put him back in his crib.  In less than 5 minutes he was asleep and slept until 6:15 when he woke up happy.  If I'd fed him at 4am I probably would have gotten the same result with a LOT less crying.  One of the current challenges is that he's rolling onto his stomach in his sleep but when he wakes up he is stuck.  He can't roll off his belly.  Hopefully our Physical Therapy evaluation on Thursday will teach me some exercises to help with this.  While I didn't blog about it for the risk that I may jinx things, twice last week he went to bed at 6:15ish and slept until 5:45a.  While that's early, that certainly is through the night.  I know some people endure 4 or so long nights of cry it out and then their kids are amazing sleepers who rarely rise before 7am.  The reward sounds so amazing that I thought I could do it too, but laying in bed listening to Luke cry all my gut was telling me was that that isn't my kid.  Maybe I'm not tough enough for cry it out?!  I did also have in the back on my mind the whole time that once Kate was home, there was no way I'd let him cry like that and risk waking her at 4am!