I've spent the past two years, trying not to brag about the fact that I've had the most perfect baby, ever, living under my roof, because I was afraid that simply mentioning what a good baby Brigid was would turn her into...well, a not so good baby.
But really, she was fantastic. She was sleeping for 6 hour stretches from very early on in this parenting thing, she took to a naptime schedule better than even I would have, if I was given the opportunity to nap twice a day, she could self-soothe without any cry-it-out coaxing from me or Steve.
The kid would wake up, and just hang out in her bed for awhile, before wanting someone to come in and get her up.
She fell asleep with a bottle. She fell asleep without a bottle. She'd interrupt storytime, or songtime, or just general cuddle time to request that I put her down in her crib. She'd send me off with a wave and a quick 'bye' when I told her goodnight.
She wanted to go to bed.
It was perfect.
And then she turned two. And it all went away...
For two weeks now, we've had a fighter on our hands. She doesn't want to get into her crib, and she doesn't want to be left alone. She wants one more book, or one more song. She wants me to sit on the floor next to her bed, or in the chair in the corner of her room, but then she wants to stand up in her crib and talk to me instead of sleeping. She'll lie still for a few minutes, before popping up with a smile and a cheerful 'hi, mom-mom!' instead.
And while this is, in general, ridiculously adorable, when bedtime is stretching into a two hour affair every evening, it's not as adorable as it might be.
And then, there's the screaming. The angry, high-pitched shrieks for mom or dad (depending on who put her down for the night), when she has herself so worked up, she's thisclose to making herself sick.
And I knew this was coming. I knew 'perfect' couldn't last forever, at least not on all fronts (because, really, she's still pretty much perfect in every other way possible, of course...). And I also know that this is a phase, which will pass eventually, and really, I should be enjoying the extra cuddling that I'm getting out of this situation while I can. And I am, to an extent.
But, still, gearing up for a battle every night now is starting to get exhausting.
Maybe I should just push her bedtime back to 11pm, and be done with it, huh?
All kids are different, so I really hesitate giving advice (EVER! SERIOUSLY!) but I'll just tell you this was pretty much us. Kyle was a great sleeper, a great bed-timer, etc., until about 2 yrs, 2 months. OH THE SCREAMING. I remember it so well. I cried at bedtime! Because, well, I worked all day and I did NOT want to look forward to THAT at night.
ReplyDeleteWe moved him to his own bed, and he went back to being awesome. (Six months in, still awesome.)
You are lucky she was such a great sleeper for at least two years...mine never were. The little one is finally sleeping, but the big one is all all night...I am tired just thinking about it. I guess you are just going to have to let her cry? ALex once cried so much he threw up...!
ReplyDeleteI can sympathize! Jacob was actually a terrible sleeper when he was little, as he wanted to sleep with me and nurse on demand. I let him so we could all sleep but then it got old and when I finally weaned him (at 19 months) he started sleeping well. In his own bed! It was lovely. And then I decided to give him a real bed and it's been crap from there. He will go to sleep in his bed, but wakes up a couple of hours later to get into bed with me. Some days, I think I should just bring the crib back!
ReplyDeleteJ went through a phase like that. I got to where I'd take my phone in his room and sit in the chair w/the lights out. He had to lay down, but I'd stay in the room until he was asleep. It...wasn't my favorite phase, to be sure. But it only lasted about a month (oh mighty parenting karma gods, please don't take this to mean I need to have this phase come back to test me!). Oh, and he was in a toddler bed, so I'm not sure how much that had anything to do with it, but he did at least know to stay in bed.
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