Sleep redux, version 5.0

So we started a new sleep trial as of about 16 days ago. We decided (modified from Dr. Jay Gordon by our instincts) that the way to try to get Olive to sleep better at night was to completely stop all nursing between midnight and 5 am. We moved her little bed into our room to create a giant bed - separate but together. We felt like a 5 hour stretch wasn't too much to ask, and I really felt like if I could get 5 hours in a row (eventually, I knew it wouldn't happen magically overnight) that I could survive the rest of the night nursing until she was ready to wean or sleep on her own.

The first couple of nights she FREAKED out, but could be soothed into sleeping on mama or papa as we walked around the dark house with her tucked into a sling. Then we'd lie her down on her bed and she'd wake back up again. This would happen over and over for about an hour and a half, until she'd finally pass out from exhaustion. She was averaging about 2 wake-ups between midnight and 5, and the second wake-up was generally easier to get her back to sleep from (say, half an hour). Then it started to get better. I could just lie down beside her and sing to her while cuddling and she'd pass out in 5 or 10 minutes. Then Doug could do it too. Sometimes we'd just sleep with her in her bed, sometimes we'd get back into our bed. And one night she even slept from 11:15 pm to 3:15 pm and SO DID I. I felt like a brand new woman. Doug could spell me off. Things were improving. When she woke up anytime after 5 am she would just come into bed with mama and nurse as much as she wanted until she got up for the day, and daddy just rolled onto Olive's futon.

Then something happened. She started getting 3 new teeth all at once. There were some adult tensions around the house. And suddenly, suddenly, she's back to freaking out, taking an hour and a half to get back to sleep, screaming and screaming. And I think, sweet baby Jesus, will this child ever sleep? Doug thinks that she figured out that we were serious about this change, that it's not just some temporary fad, and she is ready to fight to the death.

We are completely unwilling to leave her alone to cry in her room in a crib (which she refuses to sleep in). I don't want to wean her. She's still getting the vast majority of her calories from me - this babe loves her milk (she even asks for it now, crying "Mama, mama" and making the 'milk' sign). And I love feeding her. And I can't even imagine how traumatic it would be to try and get her off the boob with the way she nurses right now. I will nurse her until she decides to wean herself, as long as she gives me 5 hours at night. I have to go back to work part-time in August, as well as caring for Etta 3 days a week. I have to get healthy again. I need to spend some quality time with my husband. I cannot do these things when I am getting no sleep.

So, I'm at a loss. Thank the gods Doug is done work in 3 days. It's going to be the summer of daddy teaching Olive how to sleep. And there is no going back. Sleep is now an imperative, meaning that our sweet monkey is going to have to adjust. I feel like I/we have done all of the adjusting this year, and now it's time for Olive to step up. We've done our best to give her an incredibly solid sense of love, attachment and security, and now there's going to be a little tough love chez nous.

Wish us luck.