Caleb's Second Bedroom

Dear Caleb,
The hours of 11 pm until 7 am are for sleeping. 
I think you've forgotten. 
Just wanted to remind you.
Love, Mommy

Our dear, sweet, dimpled #4 is not the best sleeper and has been that way since infancy.  For the first 6-8 months, it didn't bother me much because I actually cherished the nighttime feedings.  It was the only time of day where I was able to consistently hold and nurse him in peace and quiet (I mean, we have those older 3 around most of the time and quiet is NOT their thing).  K would calmly and quickly nurse and head back to sleep. I know what he wanted and once his belly was full, we were all sleeping again.

In February, he completely weaned himself at night and started sleeping straight through the night.  Much later than our others, but he is my last baby so I didn't stress about it.  I know that these moments are fleeting and that his needing me and needing to eat in the middle of the night would not last long.  And now, just 6 months later, I have already forgotten the feel of cradling him in my arms and nursing him.  I remember it in theory but I don't remember the actual thing.  And the snuggles and cuddling are few and far between now that he is on the go, Go, GO!

That's life, especially as a mom.  The stages are intense and they seem to be all-or-nothing.  The intensity of feeding a baby around the clock seems daunting at times and then before you know it, they are  holding their own bottle/cup, picking food up with their fingers, and you blink their eyes and they are in school.

That being said, I was spoiled.  The twins were sleeping 12 hours straight by 3 months and have never had ongoing sleep problems at night.  I use to joke that God knew we couldn't handle the days if we didn't get good sleep at night.   If your kids sleep like that and you're annoyed reading about  great sleeping, then don't read about Aaron. 

Aaron was the easiest baby ever!  He slept 6 hours straight his last night in the hospital (at 4 days old) and our first night at home he slept for 8 hours straight (granted it was 2 am to 10 am, but I took it).  Since then,he has NEVER slept less than 10 hours unless we've put him to bed late.  Seriously.  My mom use to worry that there was something wrong with him because he would easily sleep for 13 hours a night and still take a daytime nap.  I'd often have to wake him up at 9 or 9:30 in the morning so that we could get going somewhere.  At 18 months,  he slept like a college student if I would let him.  All that to say, he REALLY spoiled us.

Now that Caleb has decided that he frequently likes to get up and party during the middle of the night, I am less than thrilled.  If he actually needed something (like to eat or go to the potty, it would be more understandable in my book).  I don't have an official journal, but it feels like he really saves this special all-nighter treats for when Jon isn't here or we're on a trip without Jon.  Or, if Jon is around, its usually the night before our long runs when we go to bed even earlier so that we have the energy to run 20 miles.  But Caleb has other ideas.  He wants to play or scream.  Maybe he is trying to make our marathon training extra "special"?  He definitely makes it more challenging when we get less sleep. 

I feel like we've tried everything to no avail.  We've tried the "cry it out" method that we used with the twins (note: it worked within 3 days with them).  However, one of Caleb's personality traits is that he is stubborn and determined.  He rarely cries when he falls or hurts himself.  But tell him no or make something off limits and you are guaranteed a good tantrum and cryfest.  So cross that method off the list as he can outcry my limits of what I can handle hearing everyday.

We've tried the rocking him to sleep but if I hold him, he only lays for about two minutes, then he starts laughing and thinks its time to get up. 

We've tried giving him his paci again and laying him down.  He is usually standing up screaming before we tiptoe out of the room.  We've tried giving him a bottle (maybe he's thirsty?).  Sometimes he takes it, other times he doesn't.  And it doesn't seem to make a difference.

I read some articles on sleeping and I tried the method where you go in and pat them on the back while they lay in the crib.  Well, first you have to get them to even lay down. The article doesn't give suggestions on how to do that.  We failed on that part multiple times.  Then when I did get him to lay and patted his back, as soon as I moved away from the crib, he was up again.

Usually we end up giving up, bringing him to the living room and putting on a baby video.  Sometimes he'll go back after a 20 minute video and sleep.  Sometimes he won't.  When he doesn't, we resort to sending him to his second bedroom.  Yep, he has a second bedroom also known as our laundry room.  Before you judge, when I use to visit my grandparents in their apartment, I slept in their hallway closet and I turned out totally fine. 

Back to the laundry room aka Caleb's second bedroom.  We put the pack n play up, and for some reason, it pretty much always works that he lays down and goes to sleep.  If we're doing laundry and the washer or dryer is running, even better.  Maybe he likes the noise? The change of scenery?  Being squished between my favorite dustpan and the old refrigerator?  I don't know.  I just know it works and after being up from 1-3 am, I don't question things that work. I just do them even if they are a bit unconventional.

Waking up in the laundry room

Unfortunately for me, it did NOT work last night.  After being quiet for 15 minutes in the laundry room, the screaming resumed.  I did eventually get him back to bed, in his real bedroom, by 3 am (you may not think that's impressive but the last time it was this bad, he stayed up til 5 am, so this was a huge improvement). My mom told me today that you cannot have four kids and not expect one of them to have sleeping issues.  That may be true, but it doesn't mean I have to like it, right?

His non-sleeping nights are so hit or miss and he always goes to bed easily, so we don't know if its teething, nightmares, or getting sick.  If only he could talk.  Unfortunately at this time, K's vocabulary (milk, up, off, daddy) is not going to solve the mystery for us.  Thankfully this is not an every night occurrence, so I really shouldn''t complain too much (just a little).

I am going to end with a final plea to Caleb (even though he cannot read, I think he can appreciate this).

Dear Caleb,
Please, for the love, do not pull any more all-nighters until after the marathon next week. Please, I beg of you.  Mommy & Daddy are gonna have enough trouble finishing the race without being sleep deprived.  Please, if you will just wait until at least one day after the marathon (so we can recover), we will not complain when you want to have a party from 12-3 am. 
Love,
Mommy