Sleep happens
Flybaby crying in his crib. Won't sleep.
Pick him up, change him (just for good measure) and put him in his carseat.
Dodge neighbors reviewing their new landscaping and drive five minutes to the mall.
Pick up refrigerator water filter that's been waiting at Sears for me for more than two months as an excuse to get out of the house. Smile at cooing grandma type who is looking at Fly. Still awake. Play with him.
Visit Baby Gap. Out of adorable T-shirt Flybaby wanted. Chat with saleslady, whose own baby is just days older than Flybaby. Looking zoned-out. Talk and sing to him.
Visit Children's Place. Find adorable newsboy cap. Easter, maybe? Forgot coupon; will come back another day with coupon. Flybaby looking drowsy. Tell him we're walking here and there.
Visit Gymboree. Is adorable sweater still there? No. Saleslady approaches. Offers to check the back room.
Flybaby is now asleep.
Come on, lady, where are ya?!
Adorable sweater is there, but not in his size. Sorry, lady, I really gotta get going -- thanks for looking anyway!
Dodge grandma types all the way to the other end of the mall, where car is, past stores that are blaring music. Flybaby is still sleeping. Walking faster now.
Dodge hair straightening kiosk people who are always calling out to me. (Yes, hair is wavy and/or curly and sometimes frizzy. Get over it.)
Load Flybaby in carseat into car. Make noise closing car door, folding stroller, closing trunk.
Drive five minutes home.
See neighbors now admiring new landscaping. Alert them Flybaby is asleep so they won't coo at him.
Make noise juggling Sears bag, diaper bag, shutting car door, turning off house alarm.
Let Fly sleep in carseat even though it's against my moral convictions.
Trying to put Flybaby to sleep the conventional way has cost me my sanity several days this week, as the child simply will.not.nap. Peaceful ocean wave sounds coming from his CD player, peaceful room decor, quiet, climate control. Not taking any of it.
But take him to a noisy mall and jostle him in and out of the house? That's how sleep happens. And these days, all those great baby advice books aside, sleep is the holy grail.
Sleep at last!
Pick him up, change him (just for good measure) and put him in his carseat.
Dodge neighbors reviewing their new landscaping and drive five minutes to the mall.
Pick up refrigerator water filter that's been waiting at Sears for me for more than two months as an excuse to get out of the house. Smile at cooing grandma type who is looking at Fly. Still awake. Play with him.
Visit Baby Gap. Out of adorable T-shirt Flybaby wanted. Chat with saleslady, whose own baby is just days older than Flybaby. Looking zoned-out. Talk and sing to him.
Visit Children's Place. Find adorable newsboy cap. Easter, maybe? Forgot coupon; will come back another day with coupon. Flybaby looking drowsy. Tell him we're walking here and there.
Visit Gymboree. Is adorable sweater still there? No. Saleslady approaches. Offers to check the back room.
Flybaby is now asleep.
Come on, lady, where are ya?!
Adorable sweater is there, but not in his size. Sorry, lady, I really gotta get going -- thanks for looking anyway!
Dodge grandma types all the way to the other end of the mall, where car is, past stores that are blaring music. Flybaby is still sleeping. Walking faster now.
Dodge hair straightening kiosk people who are always calling out to me. (Yes, hair is wavy and/or curly and sometimes frizzy. Get over it.)
Load Flybaby in carseat into car. Make noise closing car door, folding stroller, closing trunk.
Drive five minutes home.
See neighbors now admiring new landscaping. Alert them Flybaby is asleep so they won't coo at him.
Make noise juggling Sears bag, diaper bag, shutting car door, turning off house alarm.
Let Fly sleep in carseat even though it's against my moral convictions.
Trying to put Flybaby to sleep the conventional way has cost me my sanity several days this week, as the child simply will.not.nap. Peaceful ocean wave sounds coming from his CD player, peaceful room decor, quiet, climate control. Not taking any of it.
But take him to a noisy mall and jostle him in and out of the house? That's how sleep happens. And these days, all those great baby advice books aside, sleep is the holy grail.
Sleep at last!
posted by Damselfly at 4:32 PM
18 Comments:
He got a nap!! Yay!! Lancelot often falls asleep in his car seat, so if we get home and he's still sleeping, we just let him be. "Let sleeping babies lie!" I say!
ssshhhhh! Don't tell the Academy of Pediatrics, but . . .
When 'my friends' baby' wouldn't sleep, they bought a special monitor and let him sleep on his tummy. Slept like a dream.
My little one slept in her car seat for the first 6-8 weeks. All the time. Her adorable head didn't touch her crib until she was over 3 months old.
Let sleeping babies lie.
Oh the elusive naps. Isabella's no nap strategy was killing me, until I read Weissbluth's Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child and put the little darling on a nap schedule. And while she hardly sleeps like a dream on a consistant basis, it has helped me sort out my life, and that in itself is priceless.
That said, sometimes a trip to the mall is desperatly needed for both baby's and mommy's sakes. :)
Camille never ever slept as a baby...E.V.E.R. The swing was my lifesavor. She did sleep at night though, thank goodness.
But now, at 14 months old, she naps 1x a day. At 10 months she finally began a somewhat schedule.
My advice? Do whatever you've got to do to keep your sanity even if it's not conventional!
Sometimes, sleep is the Holy Grail, and like anonymous, I put 2 of my 3 babies to sleep on their tummies and they slept like champs. A moms gotta do what a moms gotta do!
I have to say I see no problem with letting a child sleep in their car seat.
Assuming of course, he/she isn't still left out in the car :)
Most of my kids slept in their car seats the first six weeks. It was the only way I could cope and they could sleep.
Ah yes. I could have written this post. Just this morning, Maddy wouldn't go down for a nap. And after an hour of her grunting and me rebinking...I gave up, put her in her swing, turned it on full force, and within seconds she was out like a light. That was 40 minutes ago and she's still sleeping.
From 6 weeks until 12 weeks she pretty much slept in her swing every night, right beside our bed, because it's the only way she would stay asleep for longer than an hour. And our pedi warned us against it..blah blah blah. But, I was in dire need of sleep. And just this morning at 4:30 when I wasn't ready to get up, in the swing she went for another hour.
I say, whatever saves your sanity
My kidwas the same...
She also prefered me running on the spot with my knees at a 90d egree angle... Soooooo very glad those days are long over...and so glad I survivied...
Hailey slept in her swing almost every night when she was little. She sleeps in her playpen with the tv blaring even now.
However they get sleep and you get sanity is okay.
Seems like sleep hell-week in these here neck of the mommy woods. A lot of blogs I've been reading lately have talked about the kids not sleeping well. Is it a full moon? Hang in there, they go through their jags of what does and doesn't help 'em sleep. I've put Lil' Miss Sunshine into her crib while still strapped to her carseat pu-lenty of times and have had to get over it just so I could lay down the remaining fifteen minutes of her nap (after having driven to the mall and visiting Baby Gap, The Children's Place, AND Gymboree as well!).
Funny, we may have crossed each other's paths...good luck!
Sleep, the mystery parents solve for each individual child. My first would fall asleep to a vacuum running. Laurel needs it dead quiet. Then, when you think you have it figured out, it changes.
At least he did it! I'm fortunate that both my kids are good nappers. Now nighttime is another matter entirely....
We let Sammy sleep in my parent's car in the garage last week. We kept the car windows open and the door to the garage open so we could hear him. The kid barely had a nap the entire time we were there, and I couldn't bear to wake him.
P.S. Can you send me an email for the BE? I can't seem to find a way to email you with mine. I have an email set up on the Cheese Party. Thanks!
Oh yeah--take that nap ANY way you can get it, I say!
It is so hard to come by!
Yay for sleep!!!! It so is the grail.
Schedules are key. It takes some work at first, and a fair amount of tears, but it does the trick eventually.
Babies choose their own sleep habits. E was happy sleeping nowhere but her vibrating chair until she was about 3 months old.
baby mogul won't sleep! He used to sleep at 8pm but now he won't til we do. Must keep baby more awake during the day...I love Baby Gap!
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