Transitioning Day 1

Ever since the day she was born, Layla has not slept at night without me. What can I say, she just loves her mommy. =) She does fine in her swing during the day for naps or the occasional carseat nap, but she doesn't enjoy the bassinet/crib situation. I've even tried taking rolled up towels to make a little cocoon for her to lay in, but that didn't seem to work. I was always that person who said that I was anti co-sleeping, and I still am, at least once they hit a certain age. I love sleeping with her now, however, I find that I am getting more and more sore as the days go by. I just don't sleep very comfortably with her there next to me. There are a total of about three positions you can lay in when you fall asleep breast feeding her: side, slightly on the side, slightly on the back. None of those are all that comfortable even when you aren't trying to avoid crushing a tiny baby. So I have decided that in order for me to get a better and more comfortable night sleep, I need to take the plunge and start transitioning her with hopes that it will happen quickly and without too much pain.

Yeah right. The first night was so painful. Probably more so for me than for her. I gave her a bath and a massage, her usual nighttime ritual, then fed her and put her down while still awake, but drowsy. I checked on her in increasingly long increments working up to every ten minutes. After an hour and a half of her fussing, crying, and screaming I decided that maybe she needed something. So I picked her up, changed her then attempted to feed her. She completely refused to breast feed, something we struggle with ever since introducing the bottle. So I bounced her on my shoulder and she was out within minutes, so I laid her back in her bassinet. She immediately woke up, of course, so I continued on the periodic checks at ten minute increments for another hour and a half, and as the tears started to roll from my eyes I decided it was time to call it a night and bring Layla to bed with me. I bounced her on my shoulder a bit to calm her down and her head was wet with a mixture of our tears. I never thought that would be so hard on me. Even labor didn't make me cry.

So tonight we are going to give it another go. Since she didn't fall asleep until almost one in the morning, she didn't wake up until a little after seven. She usually wakes up around five for a feeding then is back to sleep until eight or nine, so last night threw our schedule off completely. Hopefully that won't have a negative effect on tonight. I've never dreaded something so much before. Wish me luck. Wish her luck...