Another challenge...

[alison]

I've been looking online for a Starbucks toy cup...
Dh told me today that he's "not worried about dd." Mmmkay, what's that supposed to mean? I do 99% of the parenting, and to be honest, I'm a lil bit scared of dd. She keeps me on my toes.
Today she freaked out when I tried to put on her sunblock on her arms, and as ridiculous as it is, I told her that we wouldn't be able to go on our walk today if she kept crying. She already had her little jacket on, which she associates with going outside (she had her little legs and arms flapping with excitement!) So, I stuck her in her Baby Einstein Center that I use when I want her to stay put, and made her play by herself. Is that the 6-month old version of a time out?

I'm not worried about M, either! She sounds perfectly, wonderfully, typical! I only suggest these methods b/c I've had to *use* them with each of my darling children. I will say that My Miss M has been a bit more ... headstrong ... than either of her big brothers. I used to think people made up the "my daughter won't wear" kind of crap, but my M has thrown the biggest fit I've ever seen from ANY of my children (and this includes Quinn!) over a coat and shoes.

It's just how they learn.

[alison]

To follow up, what do you do when your baby fights his/her nap? I used to be able to bring a half-tired baby into her room, swaddle her, put a binky in her mouth, leave, and come back an hour and a half later. Now, I put dd in her crib, let her cry for 10 minutes, check her diaper, take her out of the crib, rock her, wait for her to fall asleep, and put her in her crib to sleep. Should I skip letting her cry it out and just do the rocking?

That's really a matter of personal preference (what about parenting isn't?). I always nursed my babies to sleep -- and there are scores of folks who would say that is a horrible idea. If rocking works for you (M doesn't wake up when you try to lay her down), then go for it. If it's important to you to have her fall asleep on her own (does she nap better when she does?), then you probably want to let her CIO.

Quinn is the only one of my 3 that I ever had a problem with getting to nap once I stopped breastfeeding. I'm not a big fan of the 'let cry for X minutes and then retrieve' approach, b/c they just learn that if they cry for X minutes, they get picked up. IMO (which is worth what you paid for it), it's either one or the other.

[alison]

I don't mind cuddling and rocking her to sleep; it's just an entirely new thing for us, since she was always really good about settling down for a nap on her own. She seems to have the same quality of sleep -- at least a good hour and a half for each nap. I can even go in there and put her laundry away while she's asleep.
I'm not a big fan of letting her cry it out. In my experience, when she's cried, there's always been a reason for it. I guess I'll enjoy the head sniffs while they last and while she still lets me. She's getting really big.

[DCJenn]

My experience (n=1) is that when the sleep patterns change, something is else is going on- a growth spurt, language acquisition of some sort, a tooth coming in. I just stuck to the regular routine as much as possible and kept an eye out for whatever "big" thing was going on. Usually everything would get back to normal in a week or so.

Jenn

[PrincessFiona]

Alison, changing nap patterns = yuck! Just when I felt like we were finding our way it seems like things would change. Aidan (6) still takes naps sometimes. Zoe is about to turn 4 (how did that happen?) and nap time=Zoe jumps on bed, sings, talks to herself and comes downstairs multiple times. My putting away laundry/popping online days are long gone! LOL

It sounds like you have a good handle on it all though. I'm sure Jenn is also right about something changing for her right now (ie growing, teething).

Enjoy....it goes by so fast, doesn't it....

[alison]

What a tiring weekend. Dd has always been on a pretty predictable nap schedule. It's just recently that she's reducing the number of naps she takes. She gets up for good around 7:45am, and goes down for naps at 9:45 (for one hour) and 12:45 pm (for almost 2 hours). Sometimes she'll snooze in the late afternoon, especially if we're out and about. She goes to bed around 8pm these days. While allowing herself to doze off is a problem, the major problem has been getting her to self soothe when she wakes up during the night. We're in there a good 3 times/night recently. I hate to leave her in there crying, and hope she just grows out of this stage. She was always so quick to fall asleep...

[HouseofWool]

I struggle with the middle of the night stuff too. Sophie is almost 14 months and she still wakes at least 1 a night to have her binky replaced. She falls asleep by herself, so that isn't the problem. As I am writing this, I just realized that I didn't give her a pacifier before I left the room tonight. Who knows what that will bring...

[Michele]

Re: Another challenge...

Kai has been an awesome sleeper from birth. I just lay Him down awake and he falls asleep. Every time his pattern has chnaged it's been because of a growth spurt or a developmental change or sickness. For the growth spurt or developmental change it's only lasted a few days to a week. For sicknesses, it depends on the type of sickness. But it has lasted a month.

I never figure out what it is until after the fact. So for the first few days of abnormal sleeping, I'm panicked that he's not going to ever sleep again. :eyeroll:


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[alison]

Kris -- I'm curious, what ended up happening with S last night? did she wake up? Did you have to go in and give her a binky?

Dd has been super easy. She refuses to go up a size to the next level of binkies, so she's still taking a 0-3 month old one... I think this is part of the problem. She loses her binky much more easily now, because they're way too small for her.

Last night she got up 3 times. Twice to eat (she hadn't eaten much over the day), and once to hang out with her dad.

[Vishenka69]

Funny you mention that your dd woke up to hang out with her dad. Turns out Isabel prefers to hang out with hers too, but sleeps with me. The two nights DH stayed up with her, she barely slept but once I took over, she just passed out.

[alison]

Funny you mention that your dd woke up to hang out with her dad. Turns out Isabel prefers to hang out with hers too, but sleeps with me. The two nights DH stayed up with her, she barely slept but once I took over, she just passed out.

We must be extremely boring to our babies.

[HouseofWool]

Alison - she didn't wake unti 4:48. A binky and down she went. Me? I was up for the day...

[alison]

Alison - she didn't wake unti 4:48. A binky and down she went. Me? I was up for the day...

Argh! 4:48 is tough. I wouldn't have been able to fall back asleep either. In the ballpark of 3am, I would have still managed, but anything after 4:30 --nope!