A Rested Child Makes for a Happy Family!

HALLELUIAH! My son is able to put himself to sleep at every rest period!  He is now 14 months and just now consistent at nap time.  He has been able to put himself to sleep at night for a while now.  Can I telly you how happy this makes me?!?!?!  (I just did a little dance) This makes me happy for many reasons:
  • I am able to get more accomplished
  • he sleeps better and longer
  • I'm not as frustrated with him
  • if I ever have another child nap time/bedtime will be easier
  • there is hope
I love the time we spend in the room together before he lays down to rest.  We walk into his room and he seems to calm quickly.  We do our routine of changing his diaper, putting on his sleep sack, turning on the humidifier/heater, turning on the lullabies, reading one or two books in the rocker, and then (my favorite part) we dim the lights, lay his head on my shoulder and cuddle for a moment while I sing to him.  This almost puts me to sleep and makes me want to stay with him.  Then I quickly remember how important it is to his development that I put him in his bed and let him fall asleep on his own!  Oh no!  Is he asleep?  Should I wake him? 

In Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, Dr. Weissbluth explains this clearly: "The over-tired infant is less likely to soothe himself to sleep and becomes more dependent on parents to be soothed to sleep."  I remember reading that the first time and thinking, "I really want Luke to be able to put himself to sleep and not be overtired."  Of course this was before 3 months and completely unrealistic.  I thought for sure my "letting-him-fall-to-sleep-on-me" technique was going to put us all in a bad place in the future.

Luke has always been fairly easy to put to sleep, for me and Tim anyway.  However, there came a day, right around 10 1/2 months where Luke was not falling right to sleep on us when he was expected to.  It was taking HOURS!  I had enough and so had Tim.  So that night we just let him scream for about 40 minutes and he finally fell asleep...hmm!  It worked!  I didn't think it would, but it did.  The next night he protested harder, but for a shorter time span.  Le Tres night he made one peep when we left and then rolled around in his bed for awhile and calmly put himself to sleep!  That had to be one of the best evenings in the world for Tim and me.  Now, Luke loves his bed, his sleep time, and especially his little blanket and lamb (which are disgusting!). 

Tim and I will sit and listen/watch him on the monitor as he is calming himself down and it has to be one of the most precious things on which a person has ever laid ears.  Now he does this at nap time as well!  FINALLY!  I didn't think it was ever going to happen.  The weather has been boding in my favor with the gloomy atmosphere.  His room is nice and dark during the day.  So hopefully when the weather changes and more sunlight pours in, he'll make a good adjustment.

The fact of the matter is, all children are different and meet milestones at different times.  They don't even surpass the milestone in the same ways.  You just have to listen to your babies cues, and follow your instincts.  If it doesn't work once, try again another day.  Don't compare your baby to others.  Take heart in the moment and continue to work towards a goal.  But don't give up...persevere!  The child needs you to teach them and each child has their own level of dependence.  Good Luck!

Of course, I just documented this occurrence in writing, so he probably won't do it this afternoon, but one can hope.  I just have to have the courage to continue to leave before he's asleep:)


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