Today Little One had her 12-month check-up (even though she's 13 months old). Everything is going just swimmingly. She's in the 90th percentile for height, weight, and head size. She's meeting all of her milestones and is even ahead of the game on a few things. There's a bit of a discrepancy over when she's going to get her 12 month shots because I want her tested for allergies first (her cousin's son has an egg allergy and I'm not getting her vaccines until I know if she's got the same allergy). She eats all table food and whole milk, she drinks from a cup (no more bottles to wash!), and she sometimes sleeps through the night (when she's not teething and when she doesn't have to poop. don't ask). What's that? Oh, noooo. She doesn't have any trouble falling asleep. Hmmmm? Nope. No one has to stay in her room with her after she's in bed. Yep. She's a GREAT sleeper!
Yes. I completely and totally straight-faced LIED to our pediatrician. It's not that I don't like our doc. I do. And I respect her opinion on all medical issues. But when it comes to sleep and comfort, well, we tend to disagree. Completely. I do NOT think a brand spankin' new baby should be expected to cry themselves to sleep. EVER. I don't think that cry-it-out is a one-size-fits-all solution. And I still rock our 13-month-old to sleep every night. What of it? I knew from past experience that she would lecture and scold if I told her the truth. And I know that we will eventually (probably shortly after I recover from surgery) teach her to fall asleep on her own in our own way. I just didn't feel like hearing the lecture today. So sue me.
For those inquiring minds who might want to know, we did CIO with Oldest Boy - mainly because he was crying himself to sleep while I was holding/rocking/soothing him anyway. We followed the Ferber method and by the 9th night he was falling asleep without any consoling and has been doing so ever since (the exception being when he has a night terror - but that's another story).
We did the same thing with Youngest Boy...with disasterous results. He ended up needing constant reassurance all night long for months. While I was pregnant with Baby Girl. Do you know how much fun it is to sleep on the floor when you're eleventy months pregnant? Not Very.
With Baby Girl we tried something different. Every night I would move a little closer to the door while she was falling asleep. Eventually, I could sit right outside her door and read a book while she fell asleep. And then I could sit in our room or the computer room. And then I could go downstairs. And now she won't even get up by herself even though she's no longer in a crib. Cracks me up. But it worked with very little tears. This is my current plan of attack for Little One but if it doesn't work, there's always a Plan B. I don't know what Plan B is yet, but I'll come up with one. And it's very unlikely that we'll have to use CIO again, but it depends on the child. Sometimes it's the best solution. And sometimes (I tend to think maybe most) it's not. What worked for you?
6 comments:
Eh, I still nurse my 15 1/2 month old to sleep as much as I can! If he's still awake after he's done nursing, I give him to DH to hold him in his room until he falls asleep (in about a minute. He's quick at falling asleep).
If he wakes at night, he usually will put himself back to sleep without a fuss any way (or with a kiss on the forehead and given his lovey back, then laid back down).
Have you given LO any egg whites yet? It's the lesser of the two egg evils (when it comes to allergies).
My kids were great sleepers except for the last one. She wouldn't sleep through the night at 8 months (nursed to sleep and woke up1-2 in the night and had to be nursed back to sleep) while the others did at 4 months or sooner. We solved it by getting one of those musical crib aquariums. We'd turn on the 12 min setting when we put her down, and then when she cried, I'd go in and start up the music again. For the first few nights I had to run it a few times in a row, a few days later it would take 1 cycle a couple times per night, and by the end of a week she was rarely waking up in the night anymore.
As a bonus, it became this mental signal to go to sleep- we'd turn it on and she'd konk out- very convenient on trips. Eventually she started turning it on herself to self-soothe.
Whatever. I still rock my 18 month old to sleep and I don't care. It's the only time of the day that he snuggles and sits still enough to read a book and I'm sorry but that one on one time is more important to me than whether the stupid ped says he should be going to sleep on his own. We did use Pick Up / Put Down from the Baby Whisperer for his middle of the night wakings and it was magical. Seriously took like 3 days and he started sleeping right through. This was, of course, after we got the eggs out of his diet :)
I am so glad to know that I am not alone in fibbing to my pediatrician! I see no reason for her to worry over the fact that B.riar still nurses herself to sleep and nurses herself BACK to sleep when she wakes up in the middle of the night. Ahem. A Mom's gotta do what a Mom's gotta do! And she's gotta do what works for the kid in question!
P.S. We were told that the only vaccine we needed to worry about for B.riar was the flu shot, as it is the only one that contains egg protein. I will have to schedule her for a scratch test and to have the shot given at the allergist's office in the fall just to be safe (though she had no reaction to it last fall - apparently it contains very little egg protein and rarely effects kids who are allergic to eggs.)
ha ha... I think it's fine to rock her to sleep. We still rock our 18 month old...we did have him in his crib and he'd go to sleep on his own...but now he's in the toddler bed (for safety because he was throwing himself out of the crib) and he toddles everywhere so we want to make sure he is asleep. We are trying to figure out weaning the pacifier. Honestly...sleep is so important for US at this stage in our life...we're probably not making great decisions...but who cares. Tell the pediatrician to come to your home at 3am when she's still not asleep! :-)
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