The last few weeks we have been trying to teach Talia how to
go to bed on her own. It has been an adventure to say the least. I think it's been harder on The Wonderful Husband and I than it has been on Talia. But we've really seen results. We put her down for the night at 8, and she hardly cries at all. We can even get her to nap now... which was the biggest joke EVER before. The only time we seem to be having issues is while she's teething. Teething is not our friend.
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| Sleeping Beauty |
Now the trick seems to be convincing her to sleep through the night. She's up at 2ish almost every night and then again at 6ish. I'm not sure if I'm willing to make her cry it out in the middle of the night. That doesn't sit right with me. In my search for "the answer" I've started to read "The No Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley". Her theory seems a bit out there (from what I've read so far)... but I will try it out. I was DEAD SET against even TRYING the cry-it-out method- and look at what it's done for us. Yes, I had my nice big serving of Humble Pie. I won't consider myself an advocate of this at all and I don't agree with doing this with little tiny babies, but I don't think that it's concentrated evil anymore. The song
"King of Spain" by Moxy Fruvous seems to be permanently on repeat in my head now.
Funny how desperation for sleep changes your opinion on things pretty fast. I wonder what else I'm going to change my "Oh I'd Never Do That" attitude on. Maybe being so opinionated on everything there is to have an opinion on is starting to bite me in the butt - I can hear my Mom saying "I told you so" in the back of my mind.
What have you had to eat "Humble Pie" over?
I agree with the cry-it-out method to a point. obviously i dont have a child so i dont know how hard and heartbreaking it will be.
ReplyDeletebut if they are crying in the middle of the night for no reason (not hungry, no bum change, good temp, etc) i think the cry it out would be the only way to teach them that her its 2am, go to sleeeep!
but again im not a parent, so i dont know.
just my humble opinion :)
It's so hard to know... she's just SOO sluggish and confused when she wakes up, that I feel so guilty doing it to her when she has no idea whats going on! Hopefully this book will give me the "golden answer"
ReplyDeletei agree with the "self soothe" method too.. they need to learn to be able to calm themselves back down to settle so they can sleep. Even the odd time when Ryleigh was 3 and 4 and didnt want to go to sleep she would whine and cry. We would leave her alone to "cry it out" and she would stop and realize that crying wasnt getting anywhere and would stop. I know Tali is a lot younger and doesn't realize yet, but I think the sooner you start the better =) Well.. that was a long ramble.. sorry Kimmy =) lol
ReplyDeleteI am totally with you on being against crying it out on the little babies. I was the same way, hated to hear Wes cry, but I eventually realized that he would just do it to get my attention, he needed nothing. My husband strongly believed in self soothing and it wasn't until one day I realized the only way my son would nap was in my arms and that mine seems to be the only baby at 3 months of age who would be up that many times at night. It killed me to let him cry it out but now he sleeps in his bed at nap time and I can put him down at night, full belly but eyes still open and he does not cry at all and goes to sleep and often sleeps through the night (sometimes and early morning feed) but really like 12 hour nights (BLISS). Not easy at all but for me totally worth the tears on my behalf.
ReplyDeleteYeah. Crying it out has REALLY made all the difference... the looks I would get when people would find out my 8month old only slept in 3 hour increments and didn't nap made me feel like a failure of a mother. The turning point was one night when I picked her up and she started to laugh like she won a victory of some sort lol. When she wakes up at night now, it's normally for food or if her mouth is hurting, and not long at all so I don't feel right making her cry for that... I'll feed her then lay back down as soon as she's done. Sometimes she'll be awake and whimper herself back to sleep and other times she'll already be sleeping.
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