Baby, thank you for passing out at 6:30 last night, suddenly, with no crying. I asked you earlier yesterday to be nice because daddy was out of town and you were such an angel!
But why two days before that did you also get tired at 6:30, but then cry until a little after 8:00? I got you ready for bed and we took a nice long walk and I gave you a bottle and I offered your pacifier and I swaddled your legs and I bounced you and I rocked you and I sang songs and I used white noise - the sleep sheep AND the white noise machine - and I turned on your mobile and I took you outside and then I fed you again and walked circles and circles and circles around the rug in your room and no matter how tired you were, you still didn't go to bed until 8:15?
I mean I watch your cues. I know your bedtime is usually around 8:00. But when you start yawning and rubbing your eyes at 6:30, I just want to make sure you are comfortable. I was having grandiose (that means basically means big) visions of getting you to sleep with no tears because I was so carefully paying attention to you. Sure, I was also thinking "Sweet! I can watch Jeopardy tonight," but I would have been okay with starting bedtime later.
You're the boss...you just have to decide what you want. How hard is that?
And while I'm asking questions, how can you tell whether I'm standing or sitting? I rock you just the same in both positions, don't I?
And how come sometimes when I give you your pacifier, you pass out in 30 seconds and other times it makes you an angry monster? (A very cute angry monster...I just mean that you get very upset. I don't mean to offend you.)
I'm not even trying to impose a schedule on you. I'm trying to let you call the shots. And you're pretty "regular" to start with so I think in general we're doing ok. I just get confused when you take a late nap or an early nap or when you look tired at a totally different time of the evening. I just don't know what to do!
Should I let you fall asleep at 5 or 5:30? Will you still go to bed at a decent time if I do? If you fall asleep at 6:30, will you still stay asleep until 6:00 in the morning? That seems like a really long time. And if you just ate at 6:00, should I feed you again at 7:30 before you sleep? Or should I do a dream feed at 8:30?
I just have so many questions running through my mind ALL THE TIME!
So just tell me ok? I'll listen.
I so could have written that letter to my boy and maybe even on sometimes still feel like he should read it. Thankfully, as he has gotten older, bedtime has generally gotten easier, except for tonight. He went down perfectly, woke up after 45 min (his first sleep cycle) and then it took 2 hours of mostly screaming (all kinds of it) to get him back to sleep. Ugh! I hope he stays asleep now. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteHow do they know if we are standing or sitting? But they sure do.
ReplyDeleteSo cute. :)
ReplyDeleteDo try the earlier bedtime - it's likely his morning wake time won't change. My son goes to sleep between 5:30 and 6:00pm and wakes up between 6:00 and 7:00am. (We have one feed at night still, but he's almost 6 months and I suspect it'll go away shortly.)
Take a look at this, it saved my sanity:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mybabysleepguide.com/2013/02/average-sleep-charts-by-age.html
Instead of focusing on the time on a clock, focus on how long he's been awake. IT WORKS. Even if he starts yawning if he's only been awake for say an hour or hour and a half and he's supposed to be awake for 2 hours between naps, KEEP HIM AWAKE. Then wait for yawns or eye rubbing AFTER he's hit the amount of time he's supposed to be awake. He will sleep better and longer. We struggled for SO LONG before I made this discovery and it's been my life saver!