Operation Cry-It-Out

My darlin' little sweetie is almost 8 months old. That means that for 8 solid months I have not had a full night's sleep. Sure, she's gotten better...now she usually only wakes up once a night. But still....EIGHT MONTHS. About a week and a half ago, I thought, "I've had it. This girl is going to sleep through the night," and decided to let her cry it out. For those of you out there who aren't parents, that means basically what it says, you let your baby cry until he/she/it realizes that you have decided not to come in to give him/her/it a bottle, or a pat on the back, or help finding the pacifier, or in my case all three, anymore. Sure, it sounds fairly horrible. But after eight months, c'mon!

So, I moved Avery's crib into the basement so that her crying would not wake up our other little rascal (who also has been waking up a fair amount during the night lately). I brought my own pillows and blankets down into the basement too, because although I was perfectly willing to let her cry for as long as it took, I wanted to be right there in case she needed me.

The first night she cried for an hour and a half before she finally fell asleep on her own. What is especially difficult about this for me is that Avery is probably one of the most easy-going babies out there. I seldom hear her cry at all during the day. So crying for 90 minutes means she had a pretty rotten night. The next morning she woke up hoarse and with a runny nose. She was also in a foul mood. I felt horrible. Throughout the day she got worse. She even spiked a small fever. Eventually I saw that her gums were also red & swollen. She had decided that now was a good time to invite two more teeth to descend from her gums into her mouth. This is a physically painful process for a baby, so--you guessed it--I had to abandon my plans to let her cry it out. You're not supposed to do it if your baby is sick or in pain.

The next night Avery cried for two hours. Not because I wanted her to or because I wasn't giving her a bottle, patting her on the back, or helping her to find her pacifier (or in my case all three), but because her sore little gums wouldn't give her a moment's peace. The rest of the week passed in runny nose, sore gum misery.

Until last night. Last night she could finally breathe through her nose again. Two little teeth have indeed poked through. And, you guessed it--operation cry-it-out is in the plan for tonight.