HELP all you experienced MOM'S out there!
Here's the story/question. At bed time, I've always fed BRANIK right before bed and he would fall asleep while eating and I would put him in his bed and he would sleep all night long. NOW for some reason he doesn't fall asleep while eating. After he's done eating he wants to play with DAD for a while which is fine but then when he get's tired and grouchy we've been rocking him to sleep in his CAR SEAT and when he falls asleep putting him in his CRIB. Last night he didn't want to go to sleep, even being rocked in his carseat, so TORY and I decided if he was going to cry and fight it anyway, we might as well put him in his crib and let him fight it there. We didn't really want to have to rock him to sleep for the rest of his life. It wasn't as BAD as we thought it would be. He cried for about 30 minutes and then quieted down and fell asleep. The QUESTION I have is what do I do for his NAPS today? When he get's sleepy I alway just put him in his SWING and he falls asleep there while swinging and stays asleep in the swing, or sometimes I ROCK him in his carseat where he falls asleep and stays for his whole nap. Should I continue the NAP time ritual as usual until he gets used to going to bed at NIGHT in his crib? Or should I just make nap times be in the crib too and get him used to it all at one time? I would like some ideas of what you MOM'S out there have done, or wish you had done.
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14 years ago
3 comments:
I'm not sure what to tell you. I have always just put my kids in their crib when it is time for nap or bed while they were awake. I would just kiss them, sing a quick song & lay them down & leave. They didn't know any different. Then I get them out when I am done with them napping. Sometimes they wake up by themselves and other times I wake them up. It just depends. This way if anyone else was watching them they knew what to expect. No surprises. Maybe the best thing to do is to just let him get used to his bed. Start now & then this will become the norm. Then he will get used to it. You want him to be able to teach himself to fall asleep. That way he doesn't have to depend on something else. All kids are different, so it may be more difficult for each child, but I think the best thing to do is to get him used to falling asleep on his own. This is very hard, I know. You are always wondering if you are doing the best thing. Being a parent is the hardest thing in the world. I wish we had step by step directions. Good Luck!
Well, I'm definitely not experienced, but I've always put Kennedy in her crib for nap time. I'm still in the process of teaching her to fall asleep on her own, but sometimes I just have to let her cry it out. It does get easier though! If you put him in his crib every time, he'll begin to learn that this is the place he needs to sleep. I don't know if you've ever heard of the Ferber method, but I've read a little about it and it teaches babies to soothe themselves to sleep. You lay them in their crib and walk out, even if they cry. After 5 min. if they're still crying, go back in (don't pick him up or rock him) but you can give him a binki (unless he won't take it) give him a kiss and leave again. If he continues crying, after 5 min. go back in. This is what I started doing with K and it does get easier, although the crying does wear on you. So if you ever walk past my house and hear bawling coming from her room, don't worry I'm not beating my child, it's just nap time :o) Good luck!
No two kids are the same. And even the same kid isn't the same all the time. I remeber when Ashley was little there would be a week when she would go to sleep and do really well for naps and bedtime and I would think "hey I think I might have this figured out" and then the next week she would be all over the map. I have never heard of a parent rocking their 5 year old to sleep in a car seat though so I don't think you need to worry about that. With Ashley, she was the first, she fell asleep in my arms and then I would put her in bed for naps and for bedtime. Brynn got put right into bed, no rocking, and that is how it was with her. With Makenzie, she started out being rocked but has since just been put into bed to sleep. However you choose to do it, my advice would be to be consistent with nap and bed times and do a same time of routine for each one. Hope this helps. He is so dang cute and you guys are doing awesome.
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