And Life Goes On...

Since I last posted, A LOT has gone on around our home.  The "cry it out" AKA Ferber method was not for us.  After that first night, where he cried for approximately 1 hour with check-ins every 15 minutes, I was miserable all day.  I kept telling myself it was for his own good, but I just didn't feel good about it for him - and the following night, he cried for nearly 2 hours.  He wasn't just whimpering, he was CRYING - to the point of gasping for air - and John finally had to pick him up just to calm him down.  That was my limit.  I called the pediatrician the next day and she said she personally would never recommend letting child cry that long - that if the method wasn't helping him put himself to sleep after about 30 minutes, it probably wasn't the right plan for him.  She suggested a "no cry" sleep method called The Sleep Lady's Good Night, Sleep Tight, which is basically a plan where we don't pick him up or "help" him go to sleep by rocking him or placing his pacifier in his mouth, but we sit by his crib until he comforts himself enough to fall asleep.  After the first two nights, we were to move a few feet away from the crib and further away until eventually we were sitting out of the room and he, ideally, would have learned to put himself to sleep.  The first night, we had to go into his room twice, and he was obviously traumatized by the "cry it out".  He was scared, as I was, that we were going to have to go through that again. But, when he realized John wasn't leaving his crib until he fell asleep, he slowly calmed down and after about 15 or 20 minutes both times, he was asleep.  The next day, he had a tooth.  And the next night, he slept from 830pm-8am.  I'm not 100% sure if it was the sleep training or the tooth breaking through - probably a little bit of both - but things have been much better  . . . until this week.  Cue a nasty cold.

Monday, he woke up with terrible nasal congestion - to the point of not being able to nurse well.  He seemed to get worse as the day went on, and Monday evening he was running a fever (100.5).  Monday night was not a good night, but we regressed from the sleep training a little bit due to the fact that he couldn't breathe well - we still didn't pick him up but had to give him his paci and comfort him a little more that just being present.  Tuesday the congestion was worse and Tuesday night he was awake from 430am - 6am; John picked him up and he would stop crying but every time he tried to lay him back down, he cried.  I still thought it was because he couldn't breathe in the lying down position, but Wednesday morning I made an appointment with the pediatrician to make sure there was no bacterial infection . . . and we found out then he has his first ear infection :(  After two doses of the antibiotic yesterday, he slept all night last night - 845pm - 8am.

It's so hard to know what to do - I'm a believer in antibiotic conservation; pharmacy school taught me all about antibiotic misuse and overuse and the resulting resistance that can develop from these issues.  I have always been one to assume first that a nasal congestion issue is viral (approximately 80% of them are) and many times, this is true - there is no need for anything other than symptom control and waiting out the 7-10 days it takes for resolution.  Obviously, my baby let me know when it was necessary to get a closer look.  I have learned that God provides the answers we need and gives me the instinct to know what to do.  Thank you, God, for this provision.

John Parker is SUCH a happy baby during the day, and although nights have been rough over the past month and a half, I realize now he had a lot of issues complicating his sleep cycles - from vacation to worsening reflux to teething to now an ear infection.  I am so thankful to have such a wonderful child and a life full of BLESSINGS!

His weight yesterday was 16 pounds 12 ounces - he's really growing so fast!  Almost a pound gained since his six month visit three weeks ago!  He will be 7 months old in a week, and I'm so excited about things to come!  He is trying so hard to crawl and loves sitting up playing with his toys.  His Halloween costume came in last week - here is a sneak peak of the sweet baby with his head piece on - he LOVED it.