The lightbulb goes off!
Tuesday, July 7th, 2009
After days of frustration and scouring the net for some new wisdom, I found the answer. I chided myself for not figuring this out sooner as obvious as it was and under my nose the whole entire time.
I am now the wiser and want to share this advice with you in case you’ve been in the same position as me.
Why was Aidan fussing at naptime and bedtime and why was putting him to sleep such a hit and miss. The answer….lack of quiet time.
So easily put by some wise parent (that had no doubt been in my shoes at some point in time), babies, like adults need quiet time to wind down before bed.
We had a routine (dinner, bath, bottle, in bed with singing and patting), but some nights were easier than others. The not so easy nights, Aidan took up to 1 hour to go to sleep fussing and fighting the whole time.
The last few days and nights have been SOOOO much easier. At naptime, I shut the door to our room, sit with Aidan in a clear space (i.e. no distractions or toys), sing him a song (Raindrops on roses….from Sound of Music), within minutes I’m rewarded with a yawn and the telltale rubbing of the eyes. Once the song is done, Aidan gets nursed and he’s out. The whole process takes less than 10 minutes. Yippee!!!!
At night, the bedtime routine starts at 7pm with dinner (some solid food), then bath, then a bottle in a dimly lit room accompanied with a song. Aidan arrives at the land of nod by 8:30 pm.
I have to say, I’m now a much calmer person and he’s happier for this routine as well.
To quote Archimedes…”Eureka!”
