Miriam was so completely exhausted by the end of yesterday. Her eyes were half mast and she didn't have very much energy. It's hard to be that stubborn! ha ha. You would think that she would sleep a long, peaceful night last night. But, no go. I am tired.
This morning I put her in her crib for her nap at 10:48 and she cried/fussed/grunted for 40 minutes. I went in a couple times, calmed her down and got her to smile. I brought her downstairs at the end of the 40 minutes when she was so wound up that she would have never fallen asleep. I have never heard her calm herself down when she gets that bad. She has never been a fan of her car seat, so we have heard those screams MANY times.
I keep repeating a mantra I got out of one of the books I read: "Mama, not baby, sets the naptime schedule. Mama, not baby, decides when naptime is over."
It has only been one day and I am already close to giving up. I have talked to a LOT of moms. Some moms tell me that their kids never got on a schedule or that they just let them nap in their swing, bouncy, etc. And then some moms tell me that their kids took a long time, but they eventually got it. I feel like I need to give this a fair shot before I say "she just won't go down for a nap." But, my overall goal is to get her to fall asleep on her own. I really think that she would sleep better during the night if she could sooth herself back to sleep when she wakes instead of calling for Mama.
I am going to be consistent about putting her down twice a day. Maybe she will at least learn that each time she goes down, she is going to be left there for awhile and maybe she will give up and go to sleep eventually. Maybe. Just maybe.
No comments:
Post a Comment