The Sleeping Saga Continues...

Life has been interesting around here in our household. I’ve been sick, my mother and father in law have been sick, and Joe has had an ear infection and explosive diarrhea (during one occurrence I nearly rolled into the poop pile). It’s been so much fun. Not.

But something else has been happening… a strange occurrence with Joe’s sleeping habits. I wrote about my trials of getting Joe to sleep in his own bed and trying the cry it out method here, here and here. Well the saga continues…

Last weekend Joe and I went and spent time with my mom. Ryan stayed behind in Kansas City. This changes our bedtime ritual a little bit. Usually in Kansas City I nurse Joe to sleep in the bed. Our TV/living room area is right next to the bedroom so we can keep an eye on him. Usually while we watch TV and if Joe fusses we run in there to give him his binky or rock him back to sleep. There has been a time or two that Joe has used his ninja like qualities and has crawled to the edge of the bed. Thankfully I see him in time and sprint over there before he dives off. We have to do this about 3 or 4 times a night before we go to bed. It’s a pain, but just something we’ve had to deal with.

However, at my mom’s house, in order to spend time with her, after Joe goes to bed I have to put him in his play pen that is placed in the guest room. Surprisingly he sleeps well in there. By the time I usually get to bed he’s ready to nurse again and I just keep him in bed with me.

Saturday night was interesting. I nursed Joe to sleep and laid him in the play pen. Usually he stays asleep but not this time. He wasn’t really crying, just whining. I decided to leave the room and see if he’d scream bloody murder like he usually does. To my pleasant surprise he didn’t! I went into the living room and he was fussing/whining, but not full out crying. After a few minutes it was silent. I actually panicked a little… had I gone deaf? Did Joe scale the play pen and fall out and go unconscious? I wanted so badly to sneak in there but I was afraid I’d wake him up if he was indeed asleep. After about 20 minutes I quietly walked in to this:





I just HAD to take a photo! Afterwards I laid him back down and he fell back asleep. About 30 minutes after I had gone to bed he woke up to nurse and slept with me the rest of the night.

Sunday was even more interesting. I laid him down while he was asleep but he woke up fussing. I left like I did the night before. Then the pattern of 3-5 minutes of fussing/whining then 10 minutes of quiet started happening over and over. After one of the 10 minute quiet stretches I went to check on him. There he was, sitting in his play pen staring into the darkness. Of course as soon as he saw me he stood up and reached for me. But seeing him all alone just sitting there almost broke my heart more than leaving him screaming his head off! I vowed next time to leave a book or small stuffed animal in his play pen with him.

I wondered how Joe’s new sleeping habits would go in Kansas City. We decided to do the same thing I had done at my mom’s and the crying/fussing/quiet pattern continued again! We were happy to be able to watch TV and have alone time without worrying about Joe falling off the bed.
When we go and check on him he’s usually asleep in a weird potition- just like in the photo above! Other times he is standing up. I swear he just stands there staring at the door for 30-40 minutes while we are in the other room. Sometimes we’ll open the door a fraction of an inch and he’ll start crying. I wish we had one of those video baby monitors to see what he was doing while we are in the other room.

When we go to sleep we bring him into bed with us. We’re taking baby steps to get him to sleep in his crib all night. Tonight we might leave him in the crib and see what happens. I’m just really in awe that he’s not screaming bloody murder for an hour while we are out of the room. He must be growing up. It’s strange also, because I think that I’d worry all night about SIDS or something if he was asleep in his crib and not next to us. If he slept all night I’d think something was wrong with him! That’s just the worry wart in me…

Do any of your babies sleep in weird positions? Every time I see the picture of Joe sleeping all weird in his play pen I think, “Gosh, that cannot be comfortable!”