First off thanks to everyone for sounding off on sleep. I knew that everyone probably struggles with this at some point (and if you don't then count your blessings!) and would have some perspective.
One comment really hit home - that there are very few teenagers waking up crying in the night. Thank you Brandy!!! This really lightened my load somehow. I mean, we all figure it out. My mom co-slept and breast fed me until I was 3 (such a rebel in the early 80s! Hi mom!) and she said I then transitioned to my big girl bed and falling asleep on my own. Now I will probably wean pipsqueak sometime soon after her first birthday and try to move her to her crib soon thereafter.
In the meantime I want my little girl to start to learn some self-soothing techniques. One thing I read about is a transitional item? Like a soothie or blankie? Last night we slept in bed together with her stuffed frog in between us. By morning she had tossed it aside and was snuggled up against my back. Lol she loves to snuggle!
But some progress people. First off I did not rock her or embrace her to help her drift off. I put her far away from me in the bed (we have guardrails up) and I turned away from her. She had her paci, her frog and was covered up with a sheet. (holy hell it's hot here!!). She got herself to sleep! She talked to herself, kicked around a little, and then I heard her furiously sucking on the paci. 10 minutes later I use my iPhone light to spy on her and she was sound asleep! Maybe this is no big deal to some but I felt a victory!
We are gonna give her a few days off from the crib. I realized that she has almost never slept in her crib before this week and we let her cry twice in it now. So she is associating her crib with scary and aloneness. In a few days I will restart safe naps there. And maybe let her play in it wide awake? It's got to be a positive experience.
I feel guilty that we tried CIO. This parenting thing is hard!
I did realize one very big positive about having a baby with no strict nap/bed schedule : we can take her to concerts! July 3 we took her to an outdoor Dark Star Orchestra concert. She LOVED it! Total hippie this one! She danced in our arms, hummed along and then fell asleep on her daddy with no drama. We stayed til 11:30!
One comment really hit home - that there are very few teenagers waking up crying in the night. Thank you Brandy!!! This really lightened my load somehow. I mean, we all figure it out. My mom co-slept and breast fed me until I was 3 (such a rebel in the early 80s! Hi mom!) and she said I then transitioned to my big girl bed and falling asleep on my own. Now I will probably wean pipsqueak sometime soon after her first birthday and try to move her to her crib soon thereafter.
In the meantime I want my little girl to start to learn some self-soothing techniques. One thing I read about is a transitional item? Like a soothie or blankie? Last night we slept in bed together with her stuffed frog in between us. By morning she had tossed it aside and was snuggled up against my back. Lol she loves to snuggle!
But some progress people. First off I did not rock her or embrace her to help her drift off. I put her far away from me in the bed (we have guardrails up) and I turned away from her. She had her paci, her frog and was covered up with a sheet. (holy hell it's hot here!!). She got herself to sleep! She talked to herself, kicked around a little, and then I heard her furiously sucking on the paci. 10 minutes later I use my iPhone light to spy on her and she was sound asleep! Maybe this is no big deal to some but I felt a victory!
We are gonna give her a few days off from the crib. I realized that she has almost never slept in her crib before this week and we let her cry twice in it now. So she is associating her crib with scary and aloneness. In a few days I will restart safe naps there. And maybe let her play in it wide awake? It's got to be a positive experience.
I feel guilty that we tried CIO. This parenting thing is hard!
I did realize one very big positive about having a baby with no strict nap/bed schedule : we can take her to concerts! July 3 we took her to an outdoor Dark Star Orchestra concert. She LOVED it! Total hippie this one! She danced in our arms, hummed along and then fell asleep on her daddy with no drama. We stayed til 11:30!
uh...she. is. awesome. Her face just brightened up my entire office!! Hope sleep gets better for you. Both twins in our bed takes up too mach darn space so they sleep in the room in pack n plays but not in our bed. I guess we could put them in their room..but it's upstairs and who the heck is walking upstairs in the middl eof the night to feed/soothe babies. Not I. I guess when they start sleeping through the night we'll put them there. Honestly our babies had to learn to self soothe because there were two of them and one of me...something had to give. So i know your baby girl will do the same. IT'll be faster than oyu can imagine and you'll be aching to rock her to sleep again!
ReplyDeleteShe's adorable!! Every baby is different...so glad you are getting some relief! Your plan sounds solid...good luck to you!
ReplyDeleteUmm, wow, she. Is. So. Cute!!
ReplyDeleteSleep drama over here too, ugh.
We are taking Q to his first Cheese concert next week! I am super excited. Did you use any of those baby ear muffs? We are planning to stay near the back of the venue, but I still think we need to be prepared to protect his little ears. His hearing was supposedly developed enough inutero to count his first concerts as phish last summer :) THis will be the first one that he can see :)
ReplyDeletelove the shirt btw! I want one!
Love the pics! She is adorable. The last pic is my favorite! I'm glad you have a plan. If plan A doesn't work, there are 25 more letters in the alphabet!
ReplyDeleteSoooo cute :) Sleeping and routine stuff is so hard... follow your heart and you'll know the right things to do... love to you always xoxo
ReplyDeleteYou can tell a breastfeeding mama anywhere by the boob cover. ;)
ReplyDeleteCompletely adorable!
Cutie patootie pie. love these photos. i want to squidge her.
ReplyDeleteCutie patootie pie. love these photos. i want to squidge her.
ReplyDeleteCutie patootie pie. love these photos. i want to squidge her.
ReplyDelete