go to sleeep... gooooo toooooo sleeeeeeep... please?

So much for the below. No progress towards solving work (or lack of) problems last week due to sleep issues.

Our little bundle of joy - E-chan - used to scratch his dear little head with his dear little fingernails, no matter how often we cut them. So we put mittens on. Then he entered his "oral phase", where he wanted something in his mouth most of the time. His mittens became soaked rapidly, so then we made sure he was wrapped up nice and firm at bedtime, to stop him from firstly scratching himself, then having permanently wet hands. This worked a treat up until he was 6 months old, and the only time he woke at night mostly was to have a feed or sometimes because he was spooked. He would settle quickly with a re-wrap and a stroke on the head!

Then things change. Most babies don't need night feeding anymore at this time, and can theoretically sleep for 12 hours between dinner and brekky. We went away for 3 weeks and hoped for the best! Instead, he woke frequently (understandable, really - he was in a strange place). Things carried on this way when we got home, so it became time to implement a "learning to sleep by himself" strategy. The first day or two was a nightmare - we're talking 2 1/2 hours to get him to sleep, with lots of crying, nay - screaming!

(warning - make sure you aren't eating when reading following):
Things were gradually improving, then he got sick! Poor little critter had a fever, and the Dr said his little throat was inflamed. We tried to give him baby paracetamol for his fever, and he chundered up his dinner! Posessed baby style (but without rotating head), with wave after wave of pureed chickpea, carrot and broccoli!! (I warned you - hope you're not eating). There was nothing to do but put him in the bath and hose him down!! That night and the next were pretty horrible - by now he refused to be wrapped or suck on his dummy, yet he couldn't settle himself AND he was miserable. We got very little sleep.... Resorted to night walks, loungeroom walks, even a carbon emitting drive in the car (sorry earth) at 2am. The days following were like walking through treakle air - every decision difficult, every movement too hard. Luckily, C-chan is on leave before he starts his new job in a few weeks, and neither or us had anything to do except cook, clean, and write my job application (more on this in another post).

And then, like a ray of sun after a storm (awwww), last night he settled a bit quicker, and slept ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE NIGHT for about the 5th time in his whole existance. VERY EXCITED ABOUT THIS!! Well I was when I woke up, but for much of the night I was out to the world making up for lost sleep and didn't really notice. He woke up this morning more his usual chirpy, snuggly self, ate larger meals again, and the whole household literally frolicked around with joy all day. The joy was heightened when he put himself of to sleep for his morning nap with minimal crying and slept for 2 whole hours while I completed a job application!

I suppose I'm beginning to believe what the midwifry profession say when they tell me a baby's habits CAN be unlearned, and they can learn to do fundamental things differently. It just may take a while... but it's only been about 9 days so far, and interrupted with 3 days of illness, so I'm encouraged.