Since Lotus' arrival home, almost 14 months ago, the night time rituals have changd many times. First when we were home, she needed to be rocked to sleep and woke up frequently. We eventually got to a point where I could lay her down, she would cry for a few minutes and go to sleep herself. She might wake up, which required some soothing. Then came time to move into a toddler bed because her leg got stuck in the crib one day. She accepted the toddler bed pretty well. We went between laying on the floor with her to saying good night and she would stay in bed and fall asleep. If she woke up she would soothe herself back to sleep. It was perfect!
Recently things have changed. She wouldn't stay in bed, so we opted to leave a light on and she went to bed with a book. I could leave the room, all was well. Wasn't waking up too much during the night. Perfect again, so I thought.
Now the tables have turned on Mommy........here is our current ritual;
- Brush teeth and wash hands
- Make sure we have baby and puppy.
- Turn on ipod and fan (these have been constants to drown out house noises)
- Sometime read, sometimes not, depends on Lotus
- Jump in bed, get her to lay down (not always easy, sometimes tears are involved)
- Light is off, lady bug is on with stars on the ceiling
- I lay down next to Lotus on the floor
- Sometimes she wants my hand, sometimes not
- Then Lotus does what I call the Roll Call of everyone she knows(family, friends, animals in her bed, you name it, and sometimes she does this 2-3-4 times)
- The roll call is cute, but gets old, after every name I say they are sleeping and Lotus needs to go to sleep.
- If she keeps talking, I tell her mommy will go in her room if she continues to talk. This works for a few minutes and she needs to talk again. (Was I really hoping she would talk soon?)
- Eventually she falls asleep but so do I
- I wake up and sneak out of the room, do my chores and go to bed
- It's 2 am and Lotus wakes up! She thinks it is morning. Try to convince a 2 yr old it is still the middle of the night. We soothe back to sleep.
- I wake up an hour later and return to my bed.
It seems like a lot. It seems crazy. However, the alternative is we spend 60-90 minutes with her getting out of bed, screaming at her door, me putting her back in bed, her getting upset (sometimes so upset she gets herself sick). If I lay with her, she is usually asleep anywhere from 15-30 mintues.
I am open to any ideas or suggestions, at some point I would like her to go back to going to bed on her own.
Tired Mommy
PS I am working on a Year in Review Post, as I have been busy and have not posted alot of happenings towards the end of the year.
4 comments:
Deb,
I feel your pain!!! Our bedtime ritual changes every few months...currently it involves all of the hygiene stuff, a race with Mommy to see who gets in pj's first, "hiding" with Daddy for me to find (often in the same place!), the reading of a story (longer ones now that she is 4!), riding the "bus" (my back) over to her room...and then I lay with her and write letters on her back while we listen to music. It makes me tired just to type it all out...but if we miss one step...yikes!!! The only suggestion I would have is to try to skip one step every so often...or shorten them little by little...but after writing this all down...I do't think I am the one to offer any advice! Lia does change it up herself occasionally...so maybe Lotus will too!
Deb,
I am probably not a good one to be giving advice - as we still co-sleep with our kids off and on. But, I was told one time, you do what you have to do. If you are overwhelmed, change any parts that you feel you can. Sometimes eliminating one step can have a major impact for you. But, probably one of the most important things for you is to get your sleep. That little one will grow up so soon. I KNOW that it seems like they are growing up so slowly at times like this. This hectic nightime situation WILL pass. Things will change. It DOES get easier the older they get. Just try to go easy on yourself. One day at a time.
Take care,
Betsy
I am not one to give advice either since we had been through so many rituals too. It has gotten better with Katie but we still let her in our bed on the weekends. She will go to bed with no problem now during the week knowing that on the weekend she can sleep in Mommy and Daddy's bed and watch movies(sprout channel) before bed.
No advice...we all do what we have to do to get some sleep.
Jen
I feel for you. Once Izzy is asleep we are good, but first we have to dance, kiss everyone, pick out which babies will sleep with her, go through an endless selection of the pilow she wants, then the blanket. I am thinking of hiding all of them but 2 to shorten this up a bit. Then there is the 12 year old's routine......
obviously no room for advice here.
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