Parenting Victory!

Parenting victory! Livia finally fell asleep at nap time WITHOUT the carrier- for the first time!! She hasn’t used it at night in forever, but it’s dark at night and she’ll have taken a warm bath, so it’s easier for her to calm down.

During the day she literally doesn’t know how to calm down, and I didn’t know how to soothe her!  She would WANT to fall asleep in bed, but after 30 min of ridiculousness, I would give up and put her on my back. On my back, she couldn’t run around or climb out, so she would fall asleep by default. Once she was asleep, I’d put her on the bed, and she would sleep for 2-3 hours (usually 3).

Today, I don’t know what hit me, but I was determined to get her to sleep without the carrier. I just REALLY wanted her to understand what being TIRED feels like during the day, and I wanted her to understand that being tired means taking a nap. Also…yesterday I realized that she is only 17 inches shorter than I am (she’s in the 90th percentile for height…I was never even on the charts because I’m so short). So it won’t be long before her feet are touching the ground.

She literally fights sleep like nothing I’ve ever seen. In my days as a preschool teacher, I’ve had some sleep-fighters…and she is in the top 5 of most challenging kids I’ve ever tried to get to sleep!

For an hour, she tried to keep herself awake by clapping, singing, yelling, counting, etc.  I was also trying different ways to soothe her- patting her back, rubbing her face, rubbing her belly, etc. She would close her eyes and wake herself up. She would try to climb out of the bed, and I would pick her up and lay her down.  The last two times she woke up, she started crying a little. I finally said ”It’s Okay, your body is telling you to sleep”.  I think she kind of understood, and she finally fell asleep while I rubbed her chest and her face. YES!!!!!!!!!