STTN

Olivia has a snotty cold...again. *Sigh* She has a hard time breathing comfortably and gets really irritated and irritable. In the meantime, I don't think I ever got over the last cold, which (if you remember) started around the first of May. I've had this nasty cough and sneezing ever since.

On the plus side, though, our baby girl is Sleeping Through The Night. Yes indeed...usually a solid ten hours or so. This has been going on for about ten days or more, so I can say with confidence that it's true, and not just a one-night fluke.

This required some work on our part. For a couple of months now, Olivia has been waking up at 3:00 a.m. or so, and for a couple of months I have been dragging myself out of bed to feed her. I did this because it was easier than letting her cry. She ate quickly and went right back to bed, so I was usually back in bed in 20 minutes. Life was busy...it was easier this way.

Then Olivia turned six months old. I thought, "Six months...shouldn't she be able to sleep through the night by now?" Then I started paying attention to her cries at 3:00 a.m. She sounded tired. Not hungry, just awake and tired.

So we tried the "cry it out" solution, knowing full well that it could take several days for her to kick the 3:00 a.m. habit.

The first night of CIO was torture for me. I got out of bed and lay on the couch waiting for her to fall back asleep. It took 45 minutes TORTURE. I went back to bed thinking she'd probably wake up again in an hour and I'd probably cave and make her a bottle because PLEASE, I AM NOT INTO THAT MUCH TORTURE. Plus, LET ME SLEEP PLEASE.

But then she didn't wake up again until 7:00 a.m. And when she woke up, she didn't scream for the bottle. She was playing...happily. It wasn't until I heard her musical crib thingie that I knew she was awake. When we went in to get her, she smiled and waved her hands up and down like nothing bad had ever happened in the world, and wasn't it great to be alive and have such cool crib toys?

The next night, she woke at 3 a.m. and cried for 15 minutes. The next night it was five minutes. Then 30 minutes the next night. Then not at all the next night.

She's been sleeping through the night ever since.

Not only that, but she continues to nap well. Over the holiday weekend, she got a bit off schedule. It's hard to nap when there are so many people to see. But she's right back on schedule today. A little fussier than normal, but that's to be expected with the onset of the cold again.

Also, we need to lower the crib mattress. Because our crawly baby is now trying to pull up on things. Oh yes. She is growing up.