As you know my daughter is queen of our castle, and sleeps in the middle of our king size bed. We are trying to get her to sleep in her crib before her brother, who is almost 5 months now, decides that he wants to sleep with us too. Our pediatrician recommended us we get her used to her bed by starting with 5 minutes the first week then 10 and so on. We are to put her into the crib then once she starts crying the timer starts. Well it's been one week of pure torture.
Day1:
I put her into her crib and immediately she started screaming. It sounded so bad. I thought I was going to cry. It really broke my heart she sounded like she was in pain. Well our princess is daddy's little angel so after 3 minutes he broke down and got her out. I was so mad that he couldn't wait 2 more minutes. Plus, after that she didn't even go to bed right away. So the first night really didn't count.
Day 2:
I out her into her crib for 5 minutes. She cried really bad, but not as bad as last nights. I tried to keep myself busy, but it was horrible. I went to get her out of bed and I almost broke down. She was so cute standing in her crib screaming, but she was doing the sign for "all done". I got her out of bed, and decided that she couldn't be rewarded with TV or anything it was straight to bed in mom and dads bed. So I laid down with her and to my surprise she was out in a matter of minutes.
Day 3:
I decided to also use this method for nap time and after 5 minutes in her crib she was out in 2 minutes for her nap. That was a record usually I have to lay down with her and watch TV for 30 minutes to 2 hours. I stuck to the no TV policy though. Bed time was harder. She cried like crazy again. Tonight she was in there for 10 minutes while I finished the dishes. When I got her out I felt like the worst mom in the universe. Her face was soaked from under her eyes to her neck with tears, snot, and slobber. I felt awful. Again we went to bed and with in minutes she was asleep.
Day 4:
Tonight was not any different from last only that due to having to take care of her brother also she was in her crib for 15 minutes. Again her face was wet. However, it may be that I am getting used to hearing her screaming in her bed or she's not screaming as intense as before.
Day 5:
Tonight was the worst night by far. Now she has caught on to the bed time routine. We eat dinner, she plays for a while, then gets her bath, then I try to get her to do relaxing things like read a book, and then we grab her bottle, Binky, and softy (her blanket we don't go anywhere without it) and off to bed we go. This time as I was getting ready to put her into her bed she held onto me. So I had to force her to let go of me and lay down. She never stays laying down before I get the bed rail up she's always standing up screaming. Actually having to pry her off me was so painful. I had to make myself put her into her crib. I didn't want to at all. When I got her out after 10 minutes I held her so tight and told her, "See mommy will always come back to get you." I don't know if that was the right thing to say or not.
Day 6:
Like yesterday my daughter has gotten the process down. She doesn't like it at all, and I don't know if she will ever sleep in her room. Tonight she was holding onto me before we even got into her room. When I carry her she never holds on, but tonight she had a death grip around my arm. When I got her out again she went to sleep within a few minutes, but she cries herself to sleep in my arms holding on like there is no tomorrow. When I try to move her next to me she cries and I have to tell her its OK. I think she's worried whether or not I'm still there. She has to hold onto both of my hands until she falls asleep now. When I let go she moves her hands all over until she finds mine again. She does this until she is finally into a deep sleep. Which usually takes 15 to 20 minutes.
Day 7:
My sister went into labor today, and we were at grandma's house until 11:30 pm. When we got home we went straight to bed. I was to tired to torture her tonight.
Lately, she cries more in her sleep. She has been waking up more frequently at night to. Although, that really isn't new she has yet to sleep through an entire night without waking up at least once. We have also been trying to wean her off bottles. She was doing really good down to one or two a day, and that was only at bedtime or during the night. However, lately she wants a bottle more often, and refuses her cups unless they are regular cups. I don't know if these set backs are from how traumatizing this really is to her or if they are just coincidence. I do know that I feel like a horrible mother for doing this to her.
The doctor seemed to think this process wouldn't take to long for her to figure it out. What exactly she is supposed to figure out is beyond me. It would seem to me that she is learning to cry until mommy comes. Because no matter how long it takes mommy will come, eventually.
If anyone has any advice or ideas I'm all ears. I can not keep increasing the time. What happens when we get to an hour. I'm supposed to let her cry for an hour? There has got to be a better way.
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