Sleeping Through the Night?

After the initial success of Operation Sleep, Molly promptly got sick and reverted to her old habit of getting up several times a night and demanding "bubbies" ("bubbies" refer to both nursing and the cloth diaper lovey that Molly constantly carries around). Since she pretty much spent the next couple months either sick with or recovering from colds, flus, and ear infections, we managed to get WAY off track in the sleep department. So, last Wednesday, when Dad was at work, I decided that the whole sleep thing had gotten ridiculous. When Molly woke up to nurse, I told her it was night time and the "bubbies" were sleeping. She could nurse in the morning, when we woke up and when it got light, but now it was dark and time for sleeping. Needless to say, she was not amused. She screamed and yelled and threw some royal baby fits. Since I couldn't bear to let her cry it out in her crib, I brought her into bed with me and let her express her frustration. Since I was holding her, I knew she wasn't scared or alone or hungry or thirsty (I offered her water) – she was just MAD. It was a really long night and neither of us got much sleep.

When the clock finally rolled around to a reasonable hour (I fail to recognize it as being morning until after 6 a.m.), I made a big deal about how it was morning and light out and the bubbies were up. Molly was very happy to nurse and we both zonked out in bed until Max woke up. Since Dad was home for the next four nights, he was on baby duty – when Molly would wake up, Dad would go tuck her back in and tell her to go to sleep. Since Molly knows Dad has no "bubbies," she would dive back down in bed, let Dad cover her back up, and go back to sleep without a peep. So, four nights passed by relatively painlessly, in spite of the lack of bubbies.

I was a little worried when Dad had to go back to work, since I knew that Molly was not as cooperative when I tried to put her back in bed without nursing her first. The first night she slept straight through until 2:30 a.m. Of course, when I went up to tuck her back in and told her the bubbies were sleeping, she was really upset. She didn't want me to hold her and yelled and fussed in her crib for over an hour. She finally fell asleep, only to wake up at again 5. I sat up, told her that it was still night time and she had to lie back down and go to sleep. She dived back down in her crib with a howl, but went back to sleep until 6. The next night, she woke up briefly and fussed a couple of times, but quickly went back to sleep. The third night, she slept until 2 before she woke up. I went up, picked her up out of the bed, and refused the request to nurse. I held her for a minute and after a couple of outraged yells, she asked for "more bed." I put her in bed and she went right back to sleep until morning. Last night I put her to bed at 7 p.m. and she slept straight through until 6:15 a.m. Hooray!!! It's been months since Molly slept through the night and she's only ever done it a handful of times. I'd almost forgotten what it was like to go to bed and not get up again until morning (and so had my bladder).

I'm hoping this trend keeps up and that nobody manages to get sick in the next couple of weeks. If Molly keeps this up, Max could very well have a new roommate next week. Although I've told him that Molly will be moving in his room and asked him if he wanted Molly to sleep in a bed in his room (to which he replied, "Yes!"), I have a feeling that he might not be so pleased about having his pesky little sister invade his space. But, Dad and I will be REALLY glad to evict our little roommate and get our bedroom back!