In Search of Sleep...

Among the many things Annie and I now count in the "Formerly Taken for Granted" category, sleep is probably at the very top. In fact, it's probably two of the top three items on the list. And we are getting tired of being so tired.

Let me first recognize that Garrett is a champion sleeper. He takes long naps and will almost always sleep entirely through the night. I do not want to under emphasize the importance of this blessing, so I've created the World's Best Sleeper virtual award, and I proudly bestow it upon our little Garrett. His sleepiness is divine.

Drew, however, has laid all the groundwork for earning the World's Most Improved Sleeper award. He just has the "improvement" part left to go.

So we've recently decided to try to help him along in his improvement. Annie read a book by Dr. Marc Weissbluth called "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" and we've been trying to use his methods to acheive some peace and rest. The idea is that none of us is happy about Drew's lack of rest. Not me, not Annie, not Garrett, and especially not Drew. Drew has never really learned how to sleep through the night. This is partly because Annie and I have been in survival mode and have rushed into his room to comfort him every time he would fuss. We did this because things would get much crazier if Garrett woke up frightened by Drew's crying (learned through experience). But now, at 11 months, Drew still wakes up every hour or two with some fussing or crying, and knows we'll come to the rescue. In order to help him learn to sleep, something we all need him to learn ASAP, we need to start a new routine which does not include the instant parental rescue feature. This has lead to a lot of crying, but not a lot of improvement. Drew will now go down for a nap or for the night without much protest (an improvement), but every night around 1 am he starts crying loud enough that we can't sleep, and if he does drift off again, he is up within another half hour (which is definately worse). We're losing sleep, and we're losing heart.

We have a few more ideas to try where we offer some comfort without having to go all the way to rocking him to sleep every time he wakes up, but it's getting tough. I hope we'll soon be bestowing that improvement award to our little Drew. And if you think to, send some good sleepy vibes our way!