Back and refreshed (and crying it out - night 1)

Hi all! Did ya miss me? Even if you didn't, I missed ya'll! It was nice to take a little blog-break. I had a nice time just unwinding. While on hiatus, I went to a playdate with a longtime friend and on the same night went to another friend's bachelorette party!

I've been a couple of play dates and have been very busy with house and yard work. It's been nice. I have also been furiously planning Hollin's first birthday. I know, you think I'm crazy. She is not even 7 months old yet. However, I have NO idea where the last 7 months have gone. If I don't go ahead and get my thoughts together, then it will creep up on me and I will be left buying all of the expensive precious party supplies at once. I bought the first item today!
I mentioned a few posts back that I was going to regain some control in regard to my sweet little clingy baby. For a long time, she has wanted to be held at all times. My first step to nipping this in the bud was letting her cry it out a bit when I put her down.

The first day, she cried for an hour and 15 minutes. I would tend to her, replace paci, soothe and go about my way. It was admittedly very hard, but I had to be consistent. She cried so much that she wore herself out and went down for a nap.

The next day, she probably only cried for 30-45 minutes. Again, she tired herself out and went down for a nap. This particular day, I spent awhile doing research, reading a few discussion boards and decided to try her on a different formula. We switched her from this

To this

I didn't notice results right away, but overall she IS crying less. She is by no means a content baby all of the time, but progress is progress!  I have been very gentle with how much I let her cry it out and it's all been over the course of a few weeks, starting with daytime fussiness.

Finally happy with her daytime progress, I decided that last night, I was "ready" to start letting her cry it out during the night. For whatever reason, I was still wide awake at 1am and just as I was starting to fall asleep, I heard her usual screaming. This baby doesn't cry-she screams.  I took a deep breath and just resolved myself to the fact that this was going to take awhile. I went in, soothed and walked back out only to hear her tune up again as I got back to my bedroom. I ended up going in there 3 times, each time waiting longer to go in than before. Finally on the 4th try, I asked Jimmy to go because I was pretty tired. It was around 3am. Lucky for him, she finally went back to sleep and stayed asleep until 5:30am.

I will admit that part of me feels really guilty because I know she was crying for her bottle. For the last two months or so, she had started waking up 2-3 times a night for a quick sip instead of just once.  I had a heart-to-heart with my Dr. about this and she assured me that she was capable of sleeping through the night. I know in my heart that she is getting plenty to eat before bed - a container of baby food and 6oz of formula. Even still, my heart broke a little bit last night. It comes with the territory I guess.

I am hoping and praying that we will not have to go through this for 4-7 nights as the method suggests. I would love to think that we could keep it to 2 or 3. I am trying to do what's best for Miss Hollin, although it's very hard. It's tough seeing this sweet face crying at night.

And just as I have finished this post, she started crying. It's 10:59pm.

Wish me luck!!!!!! :)