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Wednesday, April 23, 2008
My Sweet God
There are times when I would rather wrestle a rabid alligator to the ground than get my seven-month old son to sleep. Yet the first, I do only for bar bets and toughman competitions, while the second, I do five nights a week.
if you're not already doing it, look into the "cry it out" method. i used to nurse evie to sleep, then slip her into bed and belly-crawl out. i literally lived in terror of her waking up.
a. you must teach yr little one to fall asleep by being awake in bed. b. if you don't do it now, it only gets worse.
i believe the "cry it out" goes like this:
put baby in bed. if baby cries, wait 5 minutes. go in, pick up, sooth, back in bed.
wait 10 minutes. if baby is crying, go in, touch (no pick-up) and talk, then leave.
at 15 minutes, just talk.
if crying still, that's where you wait.
which will suck, but baby knows you love him/her and will soon not require such long periods of crying. for evie, it took about a week.
stay strong. you def. do not want to be waiting for a toddler to fall asleep and then spirit them off to bed.
AVG is on the right track, and I've been at this from both angles. H. used to start crawling up the stairs at bedtime, and was always an easy sleeper. E. used to take 45 minutes to cry herself to sleep.
In the short term, hang in there. It will get better. In the slightly longer term, Danielle and I found the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child to be a lifesaver.
I tried the 5-10-15, etc. this afternoon. My little redhead cheated! He cried like crazy for five minutes, then went to sleep as soon as I picked him up.
Oh well. Sleep achieved, and with a minimum of baby-inflicted injuries.
if you're not already doing it, look into the "cry it out" method. i used to nurse evie to sleep, then slip her into bed and belly-crawl out. i literally lived in terror of her waking up.
ReplyDeletea. you must teach yr little one to fall asleep by being awake in bed. b. if you don't do it now, it only gets worse.
i believe the "cry it out" goes like this:
put baby in bed. if baby cries, wait 5 minutes. go in, pick up, sooth, back in bed.
wait 10 minutes. if baby is crying, go in, touch (no pick-up) and talk, then leave.
at 15 minutes, just talk.
if crying still, that's where you wait.
which will suck, but baby knows you love him/her and will soon not require such long periods of crying. for evie, it took about a week.
stay strong. you def. do not want to be waiting for a toddler to fall asleep and then spirit them off to bed.
AVG is on the right track, and I've been at this from both angles. H. used to start crawling up the stairs at bedtime, and was always an easy sleeper. E. used to take 45 minutes to cry herself to sleep.
ReplyDeleteIn the short term, hang in there. It will get better. In the slightly longer term, Danielle and I found the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child to be a lifesaver.
I tried the 5-10-15, etc. this afternoon. My little redhead cheated! He cried like crazy for five minutes, then went to sleep as soon as I picked him up.
ReplyDeleteOh well. Sleep achieved, and with a minimum of baby-inflicted injuries.