I adjusted Dexter's schedule over the weekend to accommodate our lifestyle a little bit better. When he was younger and he had to be fed his meals, it was such a pain to eat and feed him at the same time, so I made his meal times at odd times so it was easier for me to eat. It also worked out well for when I was still nursing him, that I'd only have to come home once instead of twice. He used to get a bottle when he woke up, ate solids at 11am, 2pm, bottle at 4:30pm, solids at 7pm and then a bottle at bedtime which is generally 8-8:30pm. I always thought that schedule was a little wacked out towards the end of the day to eat 3 times in 4 hours. Now it's more even and more in line with how we eat: solids when he wakes up (we all eat breakfast together), bottle at 9am, solids at noon, bottle at 3pm, solids at 6pm (when we normally eat on the weekends or while I fix dinner on workdays), and bottle at 8-ish bedtime. He has pretty even 2-3 hours intervals now. He still needs snacks here and there because he's adjusting. The only downfall is that he has been throwing the worst tantrums. Most of the time I pick him up and distract him, but sometimes I just let him get it out.
He sometimes throws these fits in the middle of the night. I'm finding that I just can't do anything, but let him cry and it works like a charm to get him back to sleep. This IS NOT the "cry it out" method of putting a baby in a crib awake and then letting them scream themselves into oblivion hoping that they'll somehow go to sleep. This is different because it's a frustrated, tired cry that he can't get back to sleep. It never lasts more than 5 minutes and it's never too intense. I kind of think that this instance is what someone once referred to 'let him cry it out" that somehow got bastardized into a "method" to sell books.
Ugh! I hate sleep method books, sleep consultants, to hell with any "expert" opinion on kids—period! Kids are all different and babies cry at night. Those are 2 facts. Some babies sleep at night and some don't, but trying to force the issue just causes more frustration. I try new things all the time in hopes it might be the magic bullet, but it never is. You could say I've given up because I don't want to deal with the disappointment and frustration of hoping that something works. He always wakes up at least once every night and so do I (to pee).
My biggest enemy of trying to put Dexter back to sleep in the middle of the night is a full bladder. There is nothing like having to go to the bathroom and waiting 20 minutes to lull him to sleep. The only way I can tell he's asleep is to listen for the "sleep breath", aka the slower deeper breaths that signal he's past the point of sensing me having to pee so bad that I can't walk straight and trying to tiptoe to the bathroom. To ensure a safe getaway, I've memorized the location of every creaky board on our hardwood floor between the bedroom and the bathroom. Sometimes, I make it to the finish line only to have Dexter wake up midway through the duty. Then other times, I don't make out of the bedroom before the baby wail starts. I just have to go to the bathroom as fast as I can and hope he doesn't get so upset that it will take another 20 minutes to get him back to sleep!
