There are times in my blogging life that I wish with all my heart that I could write like my friend Camille Fairbanks! She has such a way of describing her life, and the situations she is in. On this very night I wish more than ever that I had Camilles writing abilities! I am sitting her on my back room rug, eating rosia's chips and Salas, and watching "king Kong" (we didn't want to drive to the movie rental store). This would be a potential nice date night....IF...I say "if" in capitals because its a really big if! If we had a baby that didn't have the longest compasity to scream at the top of her lungs. Grace is a REALLY good baby, as a matter of fact, I would peg her as one of the best behaved babies I have ever met (except of Alex the nice baby that I nannied, she was a gift from god). She plays so good all day, she smiles at almost every person that looks at her, and she likes her green beans more than her pears...could I ask her a better baby...the answer is NO! The only problem is that she LOVES me! This wouldn't generally be a problem, only, Grace hasn't gotten the hang of moderation yet...she loves me so much that she has to have me ALL the time! That means that I have to be holding her, or in the room with her all the time...even when she sleeps! She has to nap in my arms...or she won't sleep. She has to sleep in my bed...IN MY ARMS...in order to sleep! This is a big problem because I can't sleep with Grace right next to me...I also can't sleep when Grace is screaming in the other room...this leads me to the title of my blog entry! Grace leaves me with no choice, I have to let herself cry herself to sleep. LAST WEEKEND I tried to do this and Grace cried for a straight 2 hours, and 15 mins! I know..I haven't heard of very many babies that can do that..but my baby does everything the best she can! The next night she cried for 1 hour, and 45 mins. The 3rd night I BROKE! I couldn't do it...she cried for 1 hour and 30 mins, and I just couldn't do it anymore! So this last week she has reverted back to her old ways...sleeping right next to me! So last night I decided...maybe I should just wait till next month, and then try again. Then tonight rolled around, and she wouldn't even let me put her down...so I said to myself again "you leave me with no choice"...so I rocked her till she was DEAD ASLEEP, and then went to lay her down( let me also add that she ate 2 whole cans of baby food, and then nursed as well, so she wasn't hungry), and she started to cry again. So I left her there. That was at 7:45...it is now 8:45! I (as in spencer) checks on her every 10 mins. She did fall asleep alittle while ago...with both hands clinging to the side of her crib...but then she woke up again. So I am sitting her, trying to vent my feeling to my blog. I don't know it really isn't working to well...but hopefully she will sleep soon, and then I can stop eating these stupid chips! I am eating the chips to vent my nervous energy..no wonder I am having a hard time losing weight.
So there you have it...my febal attempt at blogging like Camille. Oh, and just so you know...this is one of the hardest parts of being a parent..no one told me about this part!
11 comments:
I totally understand what you are going through. A couple weeks ago I was at the same point with Tessa and decided to sleep train her once and for all. Well, 8 days/nights later she still wasn't sleep trained. We suffered through her climbing out of her crib in desperation (only 10 months old) and the last night before I gave in she screemed from 11pm until 4:10am (do the math... more than 5 hours) I have no idea how she lasted so long. Her naps that day had only been 2, 45 minute naps while in the car because she screemed through her nap times. Well at 4:25am she woke up screeming again. Yep only 15 minutes of sleep. I guess Jess couldn't take it anymore because he went in and got her while I was up getting a drink and when she stopped crying so soon I thought she had finally learned to fall back to sleep on her own and that the past 8 days were worth it. Imagine my disappointment when I saw that she was asleep next to Jess on my bed. At that point I decided to give up on the "sleep training" and just live with what we have. I'm sure some day she won't need to sleep in my bed. Maybe when she's 5, maybe 10? Who knows, but for sure by the time she's 18 she'll be on her own- right? Anyway, this comment ended up being a bit long. I'm sorry if I discouraged you. I hope it works out for you. Hopefully Grace being younger will help her to learn to sleep better. Good luck.
I feel for you very much. It is so difficult to listen to your baby scream. It's sad, because it's not so much that I feel bad for her but just that it's so darn annoying! I've been doing the cry it out thing with Addy since Feb. She now sleeps well at night, but naps are still a total mess. In fact she's crying her head off right now, because she doesn't want to nap. I won't try to give you advice, because I put a similiar post to the one you wrote on my blog awhile back and people tried to give me all kinds of advice. I wasn't really looking for that, just sympathy and understanding. So let me tell you that I sympathize with your problem and hope that things work out well very, very soon!
Oh, Jami, I'm so sorry!! Cami went through a really rough stage when she was about 1-1/2 years old. She would scream for 2 hours every time she took a nap or went to bed. I thought I was going to die. We finally invested in a large package of ear plugs. I have always wondered how she could cry and scream for so long without getting hoarse or running out of energy. I guess I should admire her stamina, huh?! I have a sleeping book that I like - Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. Maybe you've already found a book you like, but this has been my textbook for years now. Good luck. I absolutely feel for you!!!!!
I feel for you! Hallie was the same way. I decided to sleep train her at 6 months...it took awhile, and more sleepless nights than we had had previously, but so worth it in the end. Just keep with it! You're doing a good job, having Spencer help is great too.
With Jaxson, I started putting him down by himself very early on...now I have the opposite problem. I can't ever rock him to sleep, or hold him til he falls asleep, etc...which is great most of the time, but sucks for church and things like that! He needs his crib!
I am sorry Jami! With Rachel I just reached a point where I could sleep with her next to me, though I never slept as soundly. She would go back and forth - usually during nap time I could get her to sleep in her crib, but at night it wouldn't seem to work. I read Babywise and The No-Cry Sleep Solution (which are just about complete opposite ends of the spectrum), and kind of came to a happy medium in the middle. I am just so grateful that Jonathan was a good sleeper, and I really really hope this baby turns out to be a good sleeper. Good luck! Please let me know if there is anything I can do! We love you!
She sounds like a little sh*t...
...oh, not really, of course. I just wanted to get a rise out of your readers. You know I love that little baby Grace almost as much as my own nephew, who also happens to scream (loudly) on a regular basis.
I have no advice for you, because I am not a parent and I suck at kid stuff.
That's why I'm not having them.
Lucky you.
: ) You'll get through it. Chips and salsa will definitely help.
Jami... You must stop comparing yourself to Camille! I absolutely love reading your posts. In fact, I frequently check your blog to see if it's been updated. You are sooo funny! Thanks for warning me about the sleepless nights... I hope things get better soon. She is adorable though.
i had the same problem with my little girl hannah...we didn't get her to sleep in her own crib til about 10 1/2 months. it was just too hard for her to go from our bed to her crib in her room...thats a big change....so we started by having her in our room but in her own bed...next to ours...then eventually we moved her to her room....all is well now.
i had the same problem with my little girl hannah...we didn't get her to sleep in her own crib til about 10 1/2 months. it was just too hard for her to go from our bed to her crib in her room...thats a big change....so we started by having her in our room but in her own bed...next to ours...then eventually we moved her to her room....all is well now.
Keep it up! You guys are both such awesome parents! The screaming only lasts for a few days. Babies learn so quickly. We had to do that with Weston and let me tell you-- that was the best thing I have ever done for my child and for myself. Get some ear plugs and let her work it out herself. If you know she isn't hungary or poopey then let her cry.
I wish you guys luck. It isn't easy but so worth it. The older she gets the harder it gets!
I have a book called the sleep sense book about this EXACT problem. I will email it to you. It helped us a lot with Simeon. It is all about routine. If they don't recognize the routine they get scared or else they don't know what you expect from them.
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