The C Chronicles :: Sleep Issue Part 8

I am currently listening to Claire scream in her room, by herself. Naptime has suddenly turned into this unmanagable fiasco and there is nothing left to do but to finally, unwillingly, let her cry it out.
I don’t know why we haven’t done that with Claire. We certainly cried it out with Callum, but for some reason, with Callum, it was utterly undramatic. He really didn’t cry it out. Sure, there were some tears of displeasure that he was being left alone in his crib and we weren’t going to endlessly entertain him, but that was clearly what it was – a kid saying “HEY! PAY ATTENTION TO ME!” and then it was over. He entertained himself until he was tired, and then he went to sleep. He cried it out for two nights, for less than 20 minutes the first night, and then less than 5 minutes the next. After that, no more tears were had.
Claire, on the other hand, cries like the world is coming to an end. Claire cries like what I imagine the children of Mom’s who say “I can’t bear to let him/her cry” cry because I can’t bear to let her cry and I’m a hard-ass. A woman with no heart. Crying, typically, has no effect on me. But Claire? Claire screams. She screams and screams, and then screams some more and you actually start to convince yourself that someone has climbed in through the second storey window and is skinning her alive. Skinning her alive while tossing all her dollies out the window. And you know, torturing the cat.
Not only does she scream, but she jumps up and down in a full-flung temper tantrum and I start to wonder if she’s going to launch herself head first onto the floor. Even if I say I’ll be right back to gently rock and sing her to sleep, I just need to find out if that noise was Callum burning down my kitchen, she’ll completely lose her mind.
Up until this week, Callum would happily watch TV for the 20-30 minutes it took for me to convince Claire to have a nap. Now, however, Mighty Machines is on mid-way through said routine and for reasons I don’t understand, Callum can’t tolerate Mighty Machines (or Funny Farm) and will flip out. I’m talking FLIP OUT. He runs screaming from the room yelling “TURN IT OFF, MAMA!! TURN IT OFF”. He will let himself out of the house and run into the backyard, this is the horror that is Mighty Machines.
By the time I’ve dealt with Callum and attempted to calm down Claire again she’s over the top, I can’t comfort her, I can’t hold her, I can’t rock her. She just screams. Yesterday, by 1:00 I had to give up and let her scream it out because she was basically sleep walking. Today I figured I’d save myself a couple of hours of whining and tantrums but I basically feel like I’ve abandoned her and 25 years from now she’s going to be sitting in some therapists office telling him that her issues of abandonement started when her mother would just leave her screaming in her crib…
So, for the other Moms out there whose children cry like this, this unbearable, heart wrenching cry, what the hell do you do to get them to sleep? I need reasonable solutions because I do have Callum who needs to be cared for, too. Unfortunately, for Claire, my world can’t revolve around just her.
It might just be this hell for the next several weeks until she figures out…