wow. and it's only Wednesday
Marty and I decided that we needed to work on Mary's sleep habits. We do a few things that are making bedtimes and middle of the nights ROUGH when Marty is not there. (Can you say rotating shifts?) Anyhoo- we usually rock and hold Mary to get her to sleep and in the middle of the night- if she wakes we stick the paci back in and, if needed, rock her back to sleep.
*yipes* we have created a monster. Mama just can't do it any longer with Grace needing attention and mama needing SLEEP. (I figure I haven't slept well for 2 plus years- minus the over night trips minus kids)
We decided on Sunday night to use new methods and we started at 12:30 am Sunday night when Mary squeaked and cried. We gently put her back into bed and rubbed her back- not holding her and not really talking to her. I got up with Mary twice and talked her back into bed. Marty got up twice and did the same. At about 2:00 am and MULTIPLE squeaks we were all asleep.
We were all tired Units on monday. We know she can put herself to sleep- she does it every day at naptime at day care. I guess this is more like re-training mommy and Daddy and not Mary.
On Monday night at bed time- Marty gave Mary a snack and then took her into her room to read a few books and wind down for ni-night. After about 45 minutes of crying and gnashing of teeth for both Mary and Daddy- Daddy gave up.
In came the second line of defence: MAMA!
I was able to get her to lay down and I lay next to her toddler bed, patting her back and talking to her. It took about 15 minutes of this and she was out. She squeaked once at about 2:00 am and Marty gave her the paci and she was back out.
Tuesday night at bed time was a little bit easier. We had a snack- brushed our teeth and headed into her room to read. Marty is REALLY good at this stuff and Mary LOVES her some Daddy time. She was out in less than 45 minutes with a little crying- but it was much easier than the previous night.
I am happy to report we only had a minor squeak in the middle of the night and hopefully she will only get a 2 hour nap at daycare. If she sleeps for three hours- *sigh* It makes it rougher to get her to bed around 8:00 pm.
more to follow about sleep this week- but learn from us.
1. Do not hold your baby to put him/her to sleep- no matter how sweet and angelic they look.
2. break any associations- Mary was used to falling asleep with a bottle- not so good.
3. make noise- you shouldn't have a silent house. vacuum the rugs- empty the dishwasher.
As you can probably assume we are doing things differently with Grace. We are VERY lucky that she is a good and easy baby to care for. She just needs lots of room to stretch out and soem good mama's milk.
adios
2 comments:
all we can say is this....and yes we speak from experience (!) been there, done that, bought the t-shirt (twice!) and lived thru it. The sleep thing seems like it will never end when you are in the middle of it, but before you know it - it is over and done and they are teenagers - and BELIEVE me the whole sleep-less toddler nights are a whole lot easier than the raging testosterone, throwing food itmes across the house at your sibling, drawing on each other with sharpies and the like!! :) enjoy it - this teenage stuff SUX!! :)
BTW - i should have advised that COOL YOUTH MAMA is your fav "half" SIL in Arkansas! :) PS what happened to the carefree days of Las Vegas?? I wanna go BACK!!!!
Post a Comment