I know she's crying because she's tired and simply needs to fall asleep to be all better, but I still have a strong desire to rescue her from this situation that seems so awful to her: all alone, forlorn, in her crib, so tired, and no one coming to comfort her.
But, says my pediatrician, babies need to develop the skill of self-soothing and falling asleep without help. So today we began our efforts in this area.
I picked the time of her morning nap, 9am when I knew she'd be tired, and put her in her crib with some calming music and let her figure out the rest. I was going to give her some attention after she exceeded 5 minutes of continuous crying, but thankfully we never reached that point, although we worked through 20 minutes of intermittent crying.
This was the end result.
Do all babies sleep spread eagle, or just mine?
Looks just like Lucas, even still today. We call it his touchdown pose
ReplyDeleteHa! Isn't it funny the nicknaming of things that occurs with kids?
ReplyDeleteAwwww....poor baby. Her is all tuckered out! Just so you know, there are many tortuous moments in your parental future, all for the good of Clara. It would be so much easier and fun to just give in, bit it's worth the torture when, in the end, you see them as productive, skilled, self-soothing adults! :) You are already a great mom....willing to endure torture for the greater good. I am proud of you. Hang in there!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jan!
ReplyDelete