I Am Brown Dog

When Ethan was six months old he started sleeping with Brown Dog, he's only been away from him one night since then. Brown Dog is definitely his comfort object.

Ethan and Brown Dog (back in his fluffier days)

I've been trying to get Caden to have a comfort object. We've tried a blue dog, a red giraffe, different blankies...but I've come to the realization that I am his comfort object, I am Caden's Brown Dog.

This has caused a few issues when it comes to sleeping. Caden is sleeping in a pack n play at the foot of our bed. He has been waking up several times in the night and wants to be in our bed. So pretty much all 3 of us are a little sleep deprived. Last week I pulled out my copy of Baby 411 and started studying the chapter on sleep. I laughed when I read the list of 10 Common Mistakes Parents make when establishing an infant's sleep routine, because we were regularly doing 7 of the mistakes. Clark and I decided we were going to start "Ferberizing" Caden (it worked great for Ethan). It was awful. The first night he cried 2 hours! I had to put on headphones and watch a movie...I hated it! But it was amazing the rest of the week he started sleeping at least 7 hour stretches at night. He also was able to self soothe back to sleep when he woke up. We were feeling great! It's amazing how different you feel when you sleep at night.

Then Saturday night Caden had a stomach ache, the only way he would sleep was for me to hold him on the couch all night long.

Now he is teething, his two top teeth are just starting to cut through and he has been miserable. Not only would he not sleep in his bed, he wouldn't sleep in our bed unless I was holding him. Not my best night ever! I feel like the great progress we made earlier in the week has all been thrown away.

So although there are perks to being a comfort object (I LOVE snuggling with this little cutie), I've learned that Brown Dog has a pretty tough job, he has earned my respect, maybe today when I wash him I'll use the gentle cycle.