Well... I made it 22 days of my challenge... right? That counts for something!!
I have to really give a shout out to the parents who deal with a no sleeping baby... Diana has hit something called "the 8 month sleep regression" meaning she has decided that sleep is completely overrated and refuses to do so.
Saturday afternoon she napped quite a bit (I may have been napping with her, but this isn't about me!!) and Sunday was too cold to do anything but stay in bed and cuddle for most of the day... So I wasn't too terribly shocked when she didn't want to sleep. I tried everything - her routine, another bottle, singing and rocking, rocking and no singing... I even tried my last resort which is putting her in her bed with her mobile on. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't - at 1am I was willing to try anything.
I finally caved and brought Diana to bed with us - we do NOT co sleep... that is a habit that does not work for us personally. No offense to those who do, parenting techniques work for some but not all... but this momma needed sleep for work the next day.
I hoped that her lack of sleep would cause her to sleep Monday night... boy was I ever wrong!! Since I didn't have my partner in parenting (Brandon had to work...) she again ended up in bed with me. Every time I moved, her eyes popped open... Was she cold? Nope. Was she hungry? Nope. She just had zero plans of sleeping Monday night.
Tuesday night, we changed our whole approach. We played with her, laughed with her... and didn't let her take an evening nap! by 8:30, she was in a fleece sleep sack, covered in night time lotion, and her eyes were starting to get heavy!! She slept through the night!!! WHEW!!
Now, I know that this is not that big of a deal compared to what other parents have to handle on a nightly basis... We know very well how blessed we are with a babe who sleeps for more than 2 hours at a time. This was just completely out of character for her!
So, with 8 teeth coming in (yep... 8!! All at once!!) and growing like a weed, we have a 2 days shy of 8 month old who has hit the 8 month sleep regression!!
Good luck mommies and daddies!!! Get some rest, and continue to be each others greatest cheerleader... We are finding that parenting is certainly difficult if you don't...