I’ve always been very hands-on when it comes to helping Livia sleep. I was either rocking her, wearing her, or just holding her until she’d eventually doze off. Now that she is becoming more independent and wanting to do more for herself (feeding herself, brushing her own teeth), I figured it would be the perfect time for her to try soothing herself to sleep (we’re on vacation for the next week and I’m around all the time).
But how? Where? Livia isn’t used to spending any ‘awake’ time inside a pack-and-play. Whether we’re at Grammy’s, Mimi’s, or our home, I make sure she has the freedom to explore and choose what she wants to play with. Keeping this in mind, I knew that putting her in a pack-and-play while she’s awake would probably be a challenge.
She naps happily on her mat at school, so the first thing I tried was patting her back while she laid on her travel cot. Once she was laying quietly, I walked away. When I peeked around the corner to check on her, she had climbed off, gone over to my dad in the dining area and managed to get some lemonade from him. -_-
I decided that it was time to try the pack-and-play. I knew she wouldn’t just stay awake. “When she’s tired, she’ll sleep”, I told myself, unsure if I was reassuring myself or just trying to convince myself.
I gathered 3 of her favorite books and put them in, I gave her a kiss and gently plopped her inside with them.
Understandably, her first reaction to my putting her in the pack-and-play was screaming and fussing. I would usually react by scooping her up right away. But this time, I decided to go into a different room and see what would happen next. I decided that, if 10 minutes went by and she was still screaming, she wasn’t ready.
After about 2 minutes, she grew quiet. I heard her sit down, and when I peeked through the doorway, she was reading one of her books! She started rolling around with them, reading them laying down and throwing them around. She was relaxing by herself!
She stood up a few times and jumped up and down, sometimes babbling loudly and sometimes she’d whining, but then she’d go right back to reading. After about 10 minutes, she was laying down with her eyes half open. 3 minutes after that, she was asleep!
She has been asleep for about an hour now, and I am so proud of her! My big girl went to sleep without any help!
Ciao, Mommy! 