Anthony and I swore, before we had Sophia, that we were going to follow others' advice and create good sleeping habits for Sophia from the start. And we did.... for a couple of months. We were so good about putting her to bed when she was still awake so that she'd self-soothe and learn to put herself to sleep. We never let her sleep in the bed with us (except for the occasional nap with Daddy) -- in fact, she's slept in her crib in her own room since the very first night we were home. So why is it that I found myself holding her the other night until she fell asleep and asking Anthony "When did I start rocking her to sleep?" I don't know when I started doing it (and he couldn't remember either), but somewhere along the line we (probably I) stopped putting her to sleep awake and started rocking her to sleep. Now she won't go to sleep if I don't rock her. During the day, Nanny Brooke can put her in her crib awake at naptime and after a short visit from the pterodactyl, she goes to sleep. If Anthony or I put her to bed at night while she's awake, we get a visit from The Dragon. What have I done?!!? I'm pretty sure I started rocking her to sleep after I went back to work, but I honestly can't pinpoint the exact time. Why, oh why did I do this? I know why -- I miss her. I WANT to hold her until she falls asleep because now that I'm back at work, I only get a few hours a day with her and I miss her. How, oh how do I stop this? Last night we tried to let her cry herself to sleep, but after about 10 minutes, I couldn't take it any more. I think this is something that I'll have to do on a weekend when I don't have to get up at 5:30 a.m. the next morning and be able to function. I mean, I guess it's not THAT bad -- she's still sleeping about 12 hours straight every night -- but she really needs to relearn how to put herself to sleep. Suggestions?
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I haven't figured out how to get Allie to fall asleep on her own in her own crib. I usually hold her until she passes out...how long did it take Sophia to fall asleep on her own (how long from the time you put her down to the time she falls asleep?) Did she cry a lot at first?
ReplyDeleteI'll be learning (relearning in your case) right along with you!!!
When we first brought Sophia home, we could put her in her crib awake and she'd be asleep w/o any crying in about 5 minutes or so. Now, if I put her in her crib awake (like I tried to do at naptime on Friday), she cries and cries and cries. I finally had to go in there and get her on Friday after about 20 minutes of crying that wasn't stopping.
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