Sherlock Mommy: I'm Still Clueless

First of all, I have to say, I love you people. The comments you have left on my recent posts (not just about baby sleep issues, but also about strapless dresses and Bin Laden) have been nothing but charitable and positive. THANK YOU!

Anywho, my recent trials of getting Joe to sleep in his crib are not going well. I told myself long ago that I would never ever in a million years let Joe cry it out. Well lately I've been thinking that perhaps I should relax my stance on that because nothing else is really working. Then I got many comments from mothers who told me that in their experience they've let their babies cry it out. I got these comments from family members and strangers. I got these comments from some of the holiest women I know who I know for a fact take their vocation of motherhood super seriously.

I thought I'd try it out- but it my own way. I told myself that I would not leave Joe alone in his room. I didn't want him to feel totally abandoned. It truly breaks my heart when I see him screaming his head off, but knowing he's screaming his head off, possibly afraid and alone- nope, can't do that. I would only go 5 minutes of letting him cry.

Monday night was the first night. I decided to do a strict bedtime schedule. Starting at 7:00 he gets a bath, followed by a lotion massage, put into his PJ's, nurse and read him a story. I put him in his crib drowsy and turn on his sound machine. Of course as soon as I layed him on the mattress he jumped up and started standing up. He kept crawling around and standing himself up- he was pretty content. I got on my computer and tried hard to ignore his total cuteness. About 20 minutes later he started to cry. OK, I thought, here goes nothing.

From 8:00 to 8:50 he would cry for 5 minutes, I would pick him up and rock and love on him for about 5 minutes, lay him back in the crib where he would stand back up and play before he would cry again. Finally at around 9:00 he settled down to sleep in his crib. I went to bed and Ryan went to sleep in the other room.

Around 11:35 he woke up again. I nursed him and laid him back down with no problems. Not too bad.

Wrong. Between 1:30-4:30 it was pure hell. He would wake up, cry for 5 minutes, I would pick him up and rock him, lay him down and pat his back and stroke his face and he'd drift off to sleep. I'd crawl into my bed (his crib is in our bedroom). 20 minutes later he would cry bloody murder and we'd repeat the process. It was about 4:00 a.m. when I was really really really tempted to bring him into bed with me, but everyone says that you have to be consistent through this process. Around 6:00 Ryan came into the bedroom and Joe started crying. I told him to bring him to me because it was about time to nurse him and we slept together until 7:30 or so.

I was mom zombie the yesterday. I cried a lot. It was not good.

Last night we started the process again. I asked for reassurance from my friends and family. Both Ryan and I were at our wits end. Ryan said, "Let's forget it. He can sleep with you." But like I mentioned in my post- it's not just about wanting to sleep with my husband. I can't leave Joe in the bed without me there for safety reasons.

I don't remember what time it was when he finally went to sleep. I do remember at 11:35 bringing him into bed to nurse him and I was going to take him back to his crib. Next thing I remember it was 1:45 and Joe was asleep next to me. I thought, "OK, in a minute I'm going to get up and put him in his crib." Next thing I knew it was 2:30 and we were still in bed. I though, "Eh, screw it." and went back to sleep. So much for that persistence thing.

But I did discover something- Joe will wake up in the middle of the night screaming bloody murder no matter if he's laying next to me or if he's in his crib. He's always done it, but when he's laying next to me it's easier and quicker to quiet him down. So now the new problem is trying to figure out how to keep him asleep.

A new mystery to be solved. Yay.

Is his nose stuffy? Sometimes it sounds like it but when I do the nose spray and nose sucker outer thing not a lot comes out.

Is he teething? I think that he has some teeth getting ready to pop through. We give him some Baby Tylenol before bedtime but that doesn't work.

Has his reflux come back? When he was about a month old he was diagnosed with reflux and the doc prescribed some Zantac. I used it for about 2 months and stopped (simply because I would always forget) even thought the doctor said to use it for 6 months. Well when he turned 4 months the spitting up stopped. No more going through 10 burp cloths a day! But strangely when he turned 7 months, the spitting up returned. It's not as frequent, but still more than it has been the last couple of months. I could give him the Zantac again, but I just don't feel 100% comfortable doing that, so I got some Little Tummies Gripe Water to see if that will help.

I check his temp regularly and he doesn't have a fever, so that one is out.

Is he hungry? I doubt it. I still frequently nurse throughout the day, especially right before he goes to bed.

I just don't know what it is. I can get him to sleep in his crib after a few crying spells, but what is causing him to wake up so often in the night?

I have read The No-Cry Sleep Solution, but the first part is all about logs and charts and I just don't have time for that. I have Dr. Sears' book on baby sleep and I haven't had time to read that. I guess instead of venting to you, my blogging friends, I should get off the computer and read up!