but not this smart.
For the past three days, Stella has definitely decided she has no desire to nap or go to bed. I thought babies liked routines - or at least that's what all the books tell me. When I start to see her rub her eyes, yawn, scratch her ears, and basically give me every freaking signal that she's tired, I start to go through the ministrations. For naps, it's to the rocking chair, a bit of a pacifier to soothe her suck instinct, and then possibly a lullaby and she's out. Or that's what used to happen. The minute I sit in the rocking chair, she's like, WAIL! WAIL! I know what's happening! NO! At bedtime, we take a bath (every other night), and then when I start to put on her PJs, literally -as I'm putting on her PJs, it's WAIL! WAIL! Oh CRAP! It's BEDTIME!
NO nursing. NO singing. NO book. NO nothing. All that will calm her down is walking out of the room with her over my shoulder. Now, she's not crying or anything, but she's 14+ pounds now, and she's getting heavy... and she supposed to be in bed. She knows it, I know it... she just doesn't want to - or I am overthinking this situation?
And when we try to go back in the bedroom or sit in the rocking chair, she starts crying again. Finally, tonight, after 40 minutes of this, I finally gave her the pacifier and she just closed her eyes and gave in. In the middle of the dining room, mind you. I hate to let her cry in her crib (we tried that a bit tonight and she WAILS, i mean WAILS and gets so worked up. For you theatre buffs, it's like the silent scream from Mother Courage.)
Now maybe this is pride getting back at me. Frankly, i was getting pretty excited that I was catching her early and getting her to sleep without hardly a fuss. And now, with her not nursing before bed (and her last feed ends up usually at 5:30/6pm) I am certain she'll be waking up in the middle of the night. Oh 10 hour stretches how i miss you so.
So if anyone has any suggestions out there for poor little old us, that would be great. Needless to say, tonight I'm drinking a glass of Sauvingon Blanc after this episode.
1 comment:
So are you not nursing before bed to prevent her needing nursing in order to fall asleep?
I'm afraid our only sleep wisdom is (1) just when you think you've got a system, the kid's sleep patterns change, (2) what works for the neighbor kid won't necessarily work for your kid and vice versa. For us it's all about daily improv...but surely you have some professional expterise in that? Good luck.
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