Pacifier? What's a pacifier? or Sleep Training Nights 2 & 3

On Saturday afternoon, Matt was with Kalina when she caught a glimpse of her nighttime pacifier on a shelf. She started cooing really excitedly. "Look, Dad!" she gurgled. "It's my pacifier! I found it! Now we can quit this silliness of making me fall asleep without it, right? What a relief!"

Poor baby! We told her that in exchange for her pacifier she'd be learning valuable lifetime lessons about how to fall asleep on her own that would contribute not only to her health and happiness, but to her brain's ability to learn. So when she discovers a cure for cancer 30-some years down the road that sets her up for life, maybe then she can have her pacifier back. Should we press it in the baby book for her?

Saturday night was fairly similar to Friday night, except the early hours were a little more interrupted than we all would've liked. 3:30 and on have always been difficult for Kalina.

Last night, however, not a single tear was shed! The only incident was that she woke up around 1:20, presumably wanting to be fed. Matt and I had stupidly decided last night that we may or may not wait to feed her depending on when she woke, and Matt would potentially comfort her in the meantime. Seeing Matt stirring beside me and not wanting to make the decisions on my own, I asked him what we should do. "Let's wait until one hundred," he said. "One hundred? That's not a time." "I'm half asleep. Feed her at 4:30." I was thinking 2:00 would be much more reasonable, but fortunately Kalina saved me the trouble of communicating this to my sleep-drugged husband by falling back asleep. Matt did, by the way, remember the conversation this morning.

But the big news from last night is that we're pretty sure we're officially and finally down to 1 feeding! As an added treat, Kalina slept in until 6:45!

For some reason, instead of feeling delighted I was a bit sad. I over-analyzed the reason for her lack of crying and rather pessimistically decided it was because she didn't think we cared anymore. I still can't shake that feeling, but I'm also satisfied that we're averaging only 3-4 wakeups per night (down from about 80-85). I just hope the baby has the good sense to cry loudly if there's a cat on her face or something.*

At this morning's nap, poor Kalina experienced her first-ever insomnia. It took her 30 minutes to fall asleep. The time was punctuated with short bouts of crying, and I could relate: which of us hasn't felt like screaming sometimes when we're tired but can't sleep? I would've offered her a book and a flashlight, but reasoned that she probably wouldn't like the taste. Instead I took a shower, glad that even if Kalina cried continually, I could easily finish the shower in the 7 minutes I had before I was supposed to check on her.

Although we're still hoping to get down to just 1 wakeup per night, we're considering sleep training a success so far. This chapter is officially closed unless there's anything further to report. Rumor has it I might even stop complaining about lack of sleep every time anyone asks me how the baby is doing. I bet you're as excited as I am!

*As a side note, once we consider sleep training "done," we'll be sure not to wait long before checking on the baby, just in case.