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Saturday, November 24, 2012

Parents of the Year

S and I have decided it is time to start transitioning E to her crib instead of our bed. We had planned on her sleeping in our room until she was one-year-ish anyway, and now that she is increasingly mobile we are also worried that our bed is no longer as safe for her.

So today she was really fighting going down for her nap, like she has been for the past week, and I finally snapped and decided I couldn't take it anymore and put her in her crib by herself.

She screamed for an HOUR AND A HALF until I finally caved and went to her. (We went in to reassure her every 10-15 minutes in the meantime, of course, but holy crap.) I laid down with her on our bed and she was just shaking she was so upset. I held her close while her little body heaved next to mine, and she fell asleep in less than 30 seconds. All she wanted was her momma. HEART. BROKEN.

We have had similar battles in the past and that child will. not. cry. it. out. She just escalates. I don't know what to do, because I know I don't have it in me to let her cry for any longer than she did today.

Any suggestions for making the transition to the crib easier? I was planning to start with naps and then transition to nighttime sleeping in there once she is used to naps, but maybe we should try it the other way around?

Help.

3 comments:

  1. Oh dear, I feel for you. Those moments when all they want is their mama and they are so upset and you feel like a jerk.
    Is her crib in her own room? If it is, start playing in there. Let her get comfortable with the room. Let her know that it is her space.
    And I would try to start with naps but if it doesnt work at all, try nighttime but she may feel more nervous if it is dark in there etc.
    I hope it works out!
    Sully slept in a bassinet in our room until he was 7 months old and 6 weeks post op from his second surgery. We played in his room a lot so he could get used to it. I cried all night because I wanted him back in our room but Robert held steady. Sully slept well and I did too. Now, I love that he is in his own room.
    Good luck!

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  2. Oh man, I really don't have a lot of advice for you as Drew transitioned fairly well. I would stay to stick with it as most of my friends said it DID get better when it was really rough in the morning! Listening to them cry is SO hard so I understand where you are coming from. :)

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  3. Oh. Dear. Lurker here..I am so sorry that you had to go through this. I don't really have advice for you since you said that you won't do CIO, just sympathy.

    We co-slept and went through excactly the same. But I sympathize with you since we tried the Ferberize DS (going in every 5 to 10 minutes), and in our particular case it was more inhumane than CIO since DS just seemed to figure out that we were coming in at that interval, and he just got even MORE POed since he expected us to come in. My pediatrician mentioned that Ferber doesn't always work on smarty pants babies that can figure this stuff out.

    (In the end, we did full CIO when DS was 14 mos and it was the only thing that worked-DS was STTN in 2 days versus weeks of torture with Ferber, but its not for everybody.)

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