Monday, October 06, 2008

All you need is...

Love, love, love is all you neeeeeeeeeeeed!!! A sleeping baby never hurts either! Funny, I ended up taking this on the last official night I put her to sleep in our bed - it took forever too!

Last Thursday we started putting my daughter to sleep in her crib instead of our bed. While it has been a transition, night number three was the worst and it seems to be smoothing out. I'm always hesitant to say for sure though because they change their routines so quickly, once I get used to it I'll have to adjust.

For me to stay sane and get enough sleep with a new born co-sleeping is the only way, but there becomes a time when I need an evening with my husband without having to nurse my daughter every hour or two (thirteen and a half months seems to be the mark.) So down she's been going. We still care for her - I'm not a big fan of cry it out - so we go in and lay her down.

Yes, she starts to do the Stevie Wonder (as my husband calls it) she sits leaning against the side of the crib bobbing her head around like you or I would dozing on an airplane. At least she lets us lay her down and then settles in to sleep.

Following after her brother who used to fall asleep with his arms and legs hanging out the front of the crib with his forehead resting on the jail crib slats, but he was older and a much lighter sleeper so he would wake up at anything. I have no idea where my kids get their stubbornness from!

Oddly enough, she seems to sleep better, initially, in the crib. She sleeps for 4-5 hours in her initial stretch each night so it seems to be the right time to begin this transition.

Now, as soon as I'm in bed all bets are off, if she fusses it's back to our bed so that I can nurse her back to sleep and get some myself. Seems to be working for now, we'll see how it goes.

5 comments:

Mary said...

Hope you are asleep right now ;)

Sherri said...

Congratulations..that's such a big step to make!

Jodi said...

Our kids were about 1 when we started the transition to their own bed. They all did pretty good with it too. Of course I wasn't nursing anymore as my kids all quit on their own by 8-10 months. I am hoping that she will find her bed to be a warm snuggly place. :)

Our youngest still sneaks into my bed occasionally but now we are pretty much left to our own bed at night. :)

Mamacita Tina said...

Best wishes with the transition. No one really likes change, especially toddlers.

Nicki said...

She is so sweet! I just want to kiss on her neck! LOL!