One of my biggest failures as a parent is getting my children to sleep. I have let them cry it out, for several hours. I have played music, I have put up dark curtains, I have rocked them to sleep, and many other things. Travis' naps topped out at 45 mins. as a baby under age 1, and now Justin's are at about 30 mins. He doesn't go to sleep well, and I HATE it. Every day is a struggle to get things done in the 2-hour window I have from when Justin wakes until he gets cranky and sleepy. And you know, the two naps never line up for more than...10 mins. Enough time to wolf down some food and read one section of the newspaper.
Night sleeping is okay, but both kids wake up early, before 6:30 am. Travis has been getting up at 6:02 for the past week. He does wake up happy. At the top of his lungs he cries, " Mommy! I'm awake!" (And he's usually dry, with no diaper, so yeah for him!) A friend lamented that her children woke at the crack of dawn, at 7:00 am. I had to laugh. I haven't slept until 7 am in well over 3 years.
It would not be that important except I am paying good money for therapy and that requires a well-fed, alert baby. Every day I analyze the clock and figure when Justin has to sleep so he will be happy for therapy. It is awful! It never works well. Today he took a nap in the car for his 30 mins. and he was still whiny and unhappy. And that means he sucks his thumb and won't do half of the exercises. Now that he rolls over, I lay him down and he rolls over and wakes himself up and cries. Sometimes I let him cry, depending on Travis and he cries off and on for 2 hours. I don't know if he sleeps. Sometimes, I don't care. I know parents obsess about little things, definitely my little thing these days is sleep. Part of me can't wait until they grow out of naps, even though I know it's something that most parents dread. If anyone has ideas, I would welcome them. I am still waiting for the magic solution, or the ah-hah moment when I realize what I have been doing wrong and how I have scarred them for life. I think I have to do that at least once a...day?
2 comments:
Ok so I may be the worst mom in the whole world because I totally ignore my house work and the house goes silent for at least 2 hours for nap. I put Zoe in her bed (by the way she is a 45min napper most of the time but after weeks of not going in for 2 hours she has learned to play or talk and doesn't cry anymore) - 2 full weeks of that. To keep the noise down I have a fan and noise in her room (she prefers rainshower from the noisemaker- then I shut the door. I make sure Jaxon and I have eaten and the house is cool and dark and we lay down together and both sleep! Yes, both of us. I find that Jaxon will sleep longer if I sleep with him. Zoe used to sleep with us but now that she wants to sleep on her side we are too crowded for her. And yes, I watched the clock for those 2 weeks and I knew how long she cried- that is what has worked for us. I wish you the most luck in finding out what will work for you!
Okay...I will share all my secrets! Not secrets to doing things correctly, my deep, dark secrets:
I love babies, I know, big shocker! (You should see me in the nursery.) Anyway, I can't put them down - so I have "ruined" my children.
Maddie is the perfect napper/sleeper. She slept through the night very quickly and goes down for her 3 (yes THREE) hour nap (sometimes it's only 2 hours) very easily.
Hailey - not so much. In fact, until Carter was born, Hailey napped curled up in my lap which meant, I couldn't move for hours. We have transitioned her to a couch alone - which took a lot of work. Now she naps 2 to 3 hours.
Carter - he's going down a similar path of napping curled up with me. I guess it's because I'm afraid that if I laid him down and let him cry, he'd wake up the girls.
The way I see it, they get their sleep. So far, I haven't ruined any of them yet!
I guess we all need help. You just gotta do what works for you...and if anyone gives you any good tips, please share.
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