Bedtime Breakdowns

New Baby Girl isn't the best sleeper in the world. Not even close. We have it pretty good though because once she does go to bed for the night, she sleeps 6 hours, which is lovely. It's just getting her in the crib that is the difficult part. I'm a rocker. Love my rocking chair. Love to rock babies. Especially mine. Rockstar Daughter was rocked all the time, and sometimes I still get the urge to grab her and make her sit on my lap and snuggle her like a baby while rocking, but thankfully, I have some self control.

Whats the problem with rocking? Well, everyone's opinion is different, but it does make bedtime a little more difficult.

So hubby and I decided we would try some methods from the "No-Cry Sleep Solution" book that we researched plus dozens of websites with loads of advice. We decided that we would put New Baby Girl in her crib semi-awake after being fed, changed and burped. If she would get upset we would take turns going in to the room to soothe her from beside her crib. Although some websites say not to pick them up to soothe them, I did. Ooops. (and to be honest, I'm pretty sure that Hubby did to, because he is an even bigger softie than I am!) Sorry, just can't stand there trying to calm down my girl who is so very upset by a simple "shush" or tummy rub. When I say upset, I'm not talking whimpers or moans, I'm talking freaking-the-he**-out. After not much success the first night we decided to would stay strong and keep working at it no matter what. So, the next night we mentally prepared ourselves for another long, tiring night filled with cries and guilt. About an hour into us going in to try to soothe her every couple minutes we both looked at each other and said at the same time that neither one of us were feeling good about this. We took her out of her crib straight away and began soothing her in another way. Lots of kisses and apologies. She was instantly happy, showing us her beautiful gummy smile and rewarding us with cuddles and after she had a little snack and was rocked for a few minutes, fell into a deep sleep in my arms where she remained until I gently laid her in her bed. She had a wonderful sleep and so did we, knowing she fell asleep feeling happy, loved and confident her mommmy and daddy were there for her.

I woke up feeling great instead of guilty. We decided that if she needs to be rocked to fall to sleep, that's what we are going to do. So what if we don't get 12 hours a night, we have our whole lives to sleep like that. For now, we want to enjoy her baby-ness. It's a small sacrifice but that's OK.

Not all babies respond to sleep schedules the same way. What works for one family, may not work for ours, and we finally understand that. We cannot compare our baby with others who have totally different sleep habits. It's hard to come to that conclusion we are led to believe that babies are supposed to sleep through starting at a few months. But, they are still babies!! If you are lucky enough to have a baby who sleeps more than 5 hours, thats perfect! But not all are capable of that.

I give major props to all you moms and dads out there that were able to make this method work for you. It's hard work, takes a lot of dedication and self control.

The way I'm now looking at it is like this:
The same way that some moms and dads are rewarded with their baby having a wonderful sleep pattern, we are being rewarded with the feeling that knowing we are doing our best to make Baby Girl feel happy and content. If that means more time in the rocking chair and less in my bed, so be it!