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I can’t write when Jack is crying. I also can’t eat, shower, watch TV or read. I just can’t. It’s as if his crys reach through me and shut my brain off.
We are trying to get an am nap.
So that we can run errands and I can go to the gym and he can go to the daycare. But with each scream I feel our days plan slipping away. I can’t drop him at daycare without a nap. He won’t have it and then I won’t get a work out. With each scream the day seems longer. With each scream I loose my reserve just a little. I fight the urge to run into his room pick him up and let him scamper off to play.
Most days he goes down for his naps and bedtime without a fight. No tears, no screams just sleep.
This is no small feat.
It was weeks of tears for both of us and weeks of napless days. It was calls to the pediatricians office and emails to friends in support of letting him cry it out.
It was me posting on facebook my desperation at a situation I could not resolve: the tears, the no naps, the endless cycle. It was comments from my friends telling me I was doing fine, that we would get through this; that got me through it.
It was long talks with friends warning me to get him sleeping and self soothing now, because they know preteens who still don’t sleep through the night, who still sleep with their parents. I didn’t want that.
Sleep training the books called it as if it’s a learned skill. And it was and still is a learned skill for Jack.
I used to eye up woman in public with sleeping babies with envy. Jack never slept anywhere. Not in the stroller, not in his carrier. Only when driving after a few miles of tears, sometimes not even then. Mostly he only slept in his crib after tears and screams and fussing and rocking. As an infant he only slept when swaddled.
So maybe this is why I’m so strict with the nap schedule. And why I let him cry it out, because it worked for me. Because I was desperate for anything to work for Jack to sleep and this worked. He slept.
Because I know my child and he isn’t that sleep deprived screaming kid. He doesn’t cry if he is hungry or if he’s bored or if he is wet. He cries when he is overly tired. And my job is not to let him get overly tired so that he doesn’t cry and can just nap.
And after all the tears on both our parts he now takes 2 naps a day (most days) and sleeps 10-12 hours at night.
I know we will still have battles when it comes to sleep but I like to think I’ve won this round and we are both happier for it.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Crying it out isn’t for everyone. How do you get your kid to nap? Was your kid a natural born sleeper? And if so how did you get so damn lucky?
I let them all cry it out as well. I would cater to them all day long but at nap and bedtime it was 'night night, I will not come and get you'.
It only took a few days, even babies are smart enough to figure out when no one's coming. Plus it gives them confidence when they learn to put themselves to sleep rather than passing out from exhaustion.
Marie I agree 100%. It's not about ignoring your child it's about them learning to put themselves to sleep. Thanks for the comment!
You know I'm with you on this subject! Crosby's nap schedule runs our lives! People with easy sleepers just don't understand but it is so worth it when you have a pleasant, rested baby!