9 month checkup

Do you see that tiny hiney? That belongs to a baby who is in the 5th percentile for weight. That's right, we went for our nine month checkup and Garner was in the 50th percentile for height at 28 inches and 5th percentile for weight at 16.5 pounds. The doctor said he is growing great that he's just a little guy. He can now eat whatever he wants so I guess I'll find out if he likes Momma's cookin'.

The Sleep Sessions

This will be a long post but I wanted to share what has been going on at our house for the past week. My son has been one of the worst sleepers pretty much since he was born. He was great in every other way but naps and night sleeping would make me nauseous to think about. I thought when babies were newborns they were suppose to sleep all the time and nap in random places for no reason.

Not my child. From the time he arrived he wanted to be awake with the world. Nap times involved 30 to 45 minutes of screaming until he wore himself out, only to awake 30 to 45 minutes later. This would happen 6-7 times a day. I thought I would wear holes in the floor from endless rocking. Night time was worse as he would be awake every hour or two wanting to nurse. Needless to say after 8 long months of this behavior Mom was tired and sleep deprived and losing her mind.

I tried all kinds of things up to this point to fix the terrible sleep habits but nothing worked. I read and read and read all types of methods but couldn't find the fix. Finally, last week I went to our doctor desperate for help. Of course he gave me the dreaded advice that I had been somewhat avoiding. He said, put him in his crib and leave him. No matter what DO NOT GO IN THERE. He said he will cry 3 hours for the first night, 25 minutes the 2nd and 5 the third and it should be over after that.

I thought 3 hours? My kid will just be getting cranked up at 3 hours. I had hoped for a more humane way but I thought I'd bite the bullet and do exactly what he said. So last Tuesday we said good night and put G in his crib determined that we would see this through. The crying started immediately and 4 hours and 15 minutes later he finally stopped. However, he fell asleep standing up in his bed. He continued to fight through bobbing head and buckling knees to keep from falling asleep but finally slid down the bars and slept with his face pressed against the bars.

Night two we left him in there and he cried 25 minutes and fell asleep, standing up again, and finally slid down the bars a few hours later. Night three he fell right to sleep and stayed that way until 5 am. Unbelievable. Night four he fell asleep only to wake 3 hours later crying. I left him there to cry himself back to sleep. 10 minutes later there was silence. I peeked in only to find him asleep standing again, fighting to keep his knees from buckling. I thought... he'll give in and lay down. 6 hours later he was still standing. Um.. I mean really...could he be that stubborn? (For all of you wondering, he does know how to get down when he stands up. This was his personal decision to drive me crazy and make me pay for leaving him in there.)

But I persevered and didn't give in and for the past three nights we have a baby sleeping (laying down) for 10 hour stretches! He is such a happier baby and I am finally getting rid of the bags that had taken home under my eyes for the past 8 months. Naps on the other hand are still a challenge. As I am writing this I am trying to ignore the screams and anger from a child who does not want to nap. The pictures that are accompanying this post are ones that I took a few weeks ago when Garner fell asleep on our couch with no crying or protest. It was so unusual I had to take some pictures. Unfortunately, the next day I found out he had a virus which explains the strange behavior.

Anyways, I write this to encourage anyone having trouble with their baby's sleeping that it will get better.