Coming off a fun slumber party Saturday night where Nick, the babe and I laid out blankets and pillows on the living room floor and just chilled while watching a movie. It makes me think our sleep problems aren't such a problem.
But they are....
I think Cruz is duping us. Playing us if you will...At night the kid will just not go to sleep. And it's more than likely our fault, we've created a bad environment where one of us will lay down with him on the couch (or in our bed...I know, I know) and try to coerce him to sleep. He drinks his milk or a water/juice combo and lays with us. Very rarely does he just automatically fall asleep. Oftentimes, he is passed between the hubs and I where we both try our hardest to get him to sleep. And the kid fights it. And its about a one hour process minimum. And it sucks.
I was talking with the nanny on Friday and she said that Cruz has done great with the nap plan they have been working on. At 11am each day, she lays him in his crib, pats his back for a few seconds, shuts the door and leaves. No crying, fighting it, nothing.
Huh? We "tried" this process once. Little man was dead tired and we knew it was minutes before he'd be sleeping. I put him in his crib, rubbed his back and then walked away. And the sobbing started. I shut to door - hard as it was - and it got worse. It took all of our might not to walk into his room, scoop him up and soothe him. "Let's give it 20 minutes," I said. The crying never even seemed to fade, he wasn't falling asleep, he was waking himself up more and was miserable. As soon as that 20 minutes was up, we rushed into his room and cuddled our boy.
So I dug in with J (the nanny) - "what exactly do you do differently?" She went through her process and it was exactly the same as what we had tried.
See, this is why we think the kid is playing us. He knows he has two suckers for parents. I'm sure you could say we spoil him - well, shoot, he's our first one. Give us some slack.
But now it's time to start getting him into a night time sleep habit. What's different nap time to night time? It's dark. We are introducing a nightlight - well bringing back the Cloud B Twilight Constellation Night Light. Sound and noise. It also features the same noises that the hub's iPhone app does.
Any tips from the mamas out there?
Tonight's the night. Wish us luck.
our routine isnt the EXACT same every night but the few things that are the SAME every night are these; bedtime stories in her rocker, one last diaper check/change, reading her the one book i know by heart and have been able to recite while we turn on her sound machine, she shuts her bedroom door and she turns off the lights, laying with her Kangy (stuffed BFF), covering her with her two FAV blankies & i kiss her feet while telling her i love her, night night and sweet dreams. sounds like a lot but its not and all of which help her go to sleep every night. good luck! you will figure out what he needs in order to go sleepy!
ReplyDeleteOh girl, you KNOW I feel for you in this department. We had the same situation with our nanny ... she could get Tory to do things that she would never do for me. It's totally because they know how to play us mommies. :)
ReplyDeleteWe do similar to the above comment - dinner (5:30pm), bath (5:45pm), pjs (6pm), books/wind down with quiet play (6:15pm) and bedtime (6:45pm). I try to keep to the same timeframe/schedule every night. We also use a Sleep Sheep sound machine and I keep it completely dark in her room. I used to rock Tory to sleep and then lay her down, but she'd always wake up when I laid her down in her crib, so now I lay her directly in her crib. Here's my downfall - I wait there next to the crib until she falls asleep. I KNOW I should just say "night night" and walk away but she will scream and it take twice as long for her to fall asleep. I'm working on getting there ...
Lately I've found letting her bring a babydoll to bed has helped comfort her to sleep. She is sleeping through the night and able to comfort herself back to sleep if she does wake up in the night so that's progress for us.
My new year's resolution was not to bring Tory to bed with us AT ALL no matter what because we were starting to fall into that habit. Whatever you decide to do, I was say to stick with your plan for a minimum of two weeks for it to really take. Good luck!
Absolutely fantastic posting! Lots of useful information and inspiration, both of which we all need!Relay appreciate your work. mattress buying guide
ReplyDelete