Well, the first night of new sleep strategies is in the books. I’d say we’ve got mixed results. But ultimately, I got an okay night of sleep. So… good job? Here’s how each item went:

• Reduce nursing at night: This went alright because he only woke up once… haha. I did actually get him to go back to sleep when he woke up without nursing him, but when I put him down, he lost his mind. Turns out that was because he was in pain… but I didn’t know that until about an hour later. So I just nursed him to see if that would work (nope).
• Only go in when he is actually awake: Nailed it. The one time he woke up, he woke up immediately screaming bloody murder. So I went in. The other times he stirred, cooed, coughed, or otherwise sounded awake, I let it be. I’m good at this. I see through his “crying wolf” routine!
• Pat and shush instead of picking him up: Did not nail this. He was inconsolable. He couldn’t hear my shushing, and I couldn’t pat him because he was rolling around and flailing. I imagine this strategy will work better when he isn’t screaming and (apparently) in pain. After 1 hr and 15 minutes of being awake and screaming, I tried Tylenol and he was out like a light the rest of the night.
• Put him down drowsy: Half nailed this. He didn’t fall asleep at his bedtime feeding, so I tried this twice and he screamed and flailed, resulting in starting bedtime over two times. I was very frustrated, and it took a very long time. But when he woke up later, I tried this again after the Tylenol. It took a few minutes of patting and shushing and lullaby-ing, but it worked! I guess if he isn’t in pain, this strategy will see more success. Imagine that.
• Pull him out of daycare: Nope. Haven’t done that. But he did nap at daycare yesterday, which was a nice surprise. Still didn’t hardly eat. So… it was good and bad. And this morning he was very sad and chasing after me when I left him. I think we’ll both miss each other today.