I am a zombie mom. Seven months* without a full night's sleep will do that. The results aren't pretty.
I'm forgetful. Did I feed the dogs? Did I give the baby her medicine? Did I make the mortgage payment?
I'm emotional. You left the toilet seat up again? Bastard!
I'm unfocused. Have I really been sitting at the computer for three hours and I only have four paragraphs to show for it?
Something has got to give.
Today, I took M to the doctor to confirm the second round of antibiotics cleared the dreadful ear infection. Her ears looked good, and the doctor gave me permission and encouragement to commence with sleep training while we have a window in which she is free of colds and ear infections.
So baby boot camp has begun, and I'm the reluctant drill sergeant.
My poor baby girl has been crying on and off for an hour. It is 1 a.m. and I am trying not to cave in to her pathetic squawking. I have no philosophical objection to sleep training: I do not believe I am scarring her emotionally nor do I believe she is in terrible distress.
I'm doing this because she needs to learn to self soothe. Because the booby bar closes at 8 from here on out. Because I believe a rested family is a happy family.
Still, it is hard. Has it really been an hour?
********Going to check on her now********
Crap. Now she is more upset. And she just woke her sister.
This is going to be a looooong night.
*Longer, if we count bathroom calls during the third trimester.
Crusing Right Aong for the Past 6 Years...
7 years ago
3 comments:
I feel a lot different about sleep training these days. I was against it in the early days of being a mom but now I feel like kids definitely need a schedule. I always kept Little S with me and never let him cry. He never learned to nap, ever! He still has tons of sleep issues. I blame myself.
Having said that I am a reluctant drill seargent too so I usually cave in but I'm no longer dead set against a little cio.
Chris-my ideas about how to parent continue to evolve. It is such a trial and error thing, isn't it. I'm learning that what works for one child does not necessarily work for the other.
We Ferberized, and I loved it. It was great bridge between total CIO and the hell of a nonsleeping baby. I think seven months is a perfect age to do it--Maggie was showing signs of being able to go to sleep by herself and would do so for just about anyone who wasn't us!
And I was also adamantly aganst sleep training, until I had a little girl who would FIGHT sleep so hard because she didn't want to miss a thing. It was tough love, but it worked in like a week so it was obviously the right thing. Good luck!
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