For those of you who haven't or don't remember, I'll explain.
Ok, so my situation isn't exactly like it was in the movie, but it's what I keep hearing in my head. Of course my 5 and a half mon. old can't talk yet, so she doesn't say "No nap!" with real words. But her actions are saying it loud and clear.
I am well aware that our current sleeping issues are most likely a result of choices we made early on but I am at a transition point and I don't know what to do.
From the second night that we had E at home, she has slept in a 'SwaddleMe' {every night in the hospital and our first night at home she slept in one of our arms. We were new parents what can I say!}. In fact, for her first couple weeks she spent a lot of time in the swaddle because it's soothing for a newborn, it feels similar to the womb. As she became more and more alert during the day we stopped using it as much. But we have always put her in it to sleep. For nap times and for sleeping at night. With it she is able to take longer naps and she sleeps for longer stretches at night. I think because it keeps her from rubbing her face and waking herself up. It's been great!
She eventually outgrew the size Small, so we bought the Large size. And it still fits her fine.
So the problem: now she rolls over on to her face, but when she is swaddled she doesn't have her arms. It just seems cruel. Plus I know that one day, gasp, she will out grow it {right mom?!} and then what. I know in my mind that she has to learn to fall asleep with it out at some point.
My fear is that we may have waited too long for this to be an easy transition. So now are we going to have to pay for those longer stretches of sleep? Most likely yes.
I'm also having to deal with the problem that I can get her to fall asleep in my arms {in the swaddle} and then when I go to put her down in her crib she wakes up and I have to start all over again. It's getting really frustrating.
But I'm not sure how to go about fixing it. I'm not strong enough to let my baby 'cry it out'. Call me a weak parent. But I can't do it. I can only take it for 30 seconds and I'm in there picking her up and calming her down. I've tried longer, I've even tried the "let her cry for 3min, then go in for 1 min, let her cry for another 5, then go in for 1min and then let her cry 10 min, etc" but that is just cruel to me. She just gets more worked up anyways, how is that fair to either of us. Now I have to calm down an even more worked up baby...
But I also know that I can't rock {actually it's bounce with our daughter, we have to bounce her while sitting on an exercise ball because she could care less about rocking} her forever. But I also know that I won't be able to rock/bounce her forever. She will grow up someday and be too big for it. And then I'll miss being able to. So do I just continue and wait for her to grow out of it on her own? If she ever does... {I know she won't be 13 and want to be bounced to sleep... but do I want to wait til then?!}
So if you see me out I will probably be the mom with dark circles under my eyes and a mega size coffee cup in my hand {heck, maybe I'll just carry around the whole pot of coffee!}.
For now, I'm off to bounce my baby to sleep.
3 comments:
Can you swaddle her tightly around her body but leave her arms out? When peanut was that age (while he never cared for being swaddled) I used to stand next to his crib, turn on his music, sing one song while holding him (swaying a little) then towards the end of the song lay him down--yet continue singing and patting his back. As the song ended I would leave and he would stay asleep. Now as soon as I turn his music on, all I do his set him in the crib, tell him 'night-night' and shut the door. He doesn't make a peep! Oh and now that she rolls, you can try to get her to sleep on her tummy--all my boys have slept that way much better than on their backs. Good luck!
Thanks Shannon, I'll give that a try! I was thinking about having her sleep on her stomach, maybe that will work better. I hope we figure this out soon, for her sake and for ours!
Can you swaddle her tightly around her body but leave her arms out? When peanut was that age (while he never cared for being swaddled) I used to stand next to his crib, turn on his music, sing one song while holding him (swaying a little) then towards the end of the song lay him down--yet continue singing and patting his back. As the song ended I would leave and he would stay asleep. Now as soon as I turn his music on, all I do his set him in the crib, tell him 'night-night' and shut the door. He doesn't make a peep! Oh and now that she rolls, you can try to get her to sleep on her tummy--all my boys have slept that way much better than on their backs. Good luck!
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