We tried something radical this past weekend and, as the week continues to gain steam, we are hoping it takes off as intended. Lola is starting to fall asleep by herself. This was all triggered by a recent evening where I was in her bedroom with her for over two hours trapped in her bed while trying to get her to sleep, followed by another evening when I was in her bedroom for nearly one and a half (when she hadn't even napped that day)!
I finally resolved that we needed to make a change. And apparently I am not the only one who recognized the insanity of our daughter's sleep situation, because Michael sighed deeply when he caught up with me later and said, "We HAVE to do something about this!!" Her sleep has been a huge problem for us since the day she was born. But now that she is 2.5, we realized that she may be ready to deal with this transition through reasoning, explanation, and reassurance.
Lola is very anxious about going to sleep by herself, so we really wanted to give her as much reassurance as possible. We use a nightlight and tell her multiple times that daddy is outside her door, if she needs anything. Sometimes the door can be shut, sometimes it must be open. Regardless, the sleep ritual requires multiple trips into her room to give her water, let her go to the bathroom, talk to her, read her a story, or reassure her that nothing is the matter. Lola also very much needs her bunnies during this process. But she is so brave and such a champ because she. is. actually. doing. it. I think she feels incredibly proud of herself, and also truly delights in my shock and surprise every morning when I exclaim over the fact that she fell asleep by herself!
It has been a surprisingly wonderful development, made all the more so by how swiftly it all has occurred. Since we first talked to her about it and playacted the scenario during the day, she has been pretty consistently good about it for her afternoon naps and bedtime. She has not bawled and actually the overall crying has been kept to a very limited amount, and surprisingly, she actually doesn't wake up in the middle of the night or cry out as much. I guess because she knows she went to sleep by herself, if she wakes up and sees no one with her, she doesn't immediately panic? Not sure, and it's still too early to tell if this will continue...
I guess this is just one of many small steps toward independence in the long path from infancy to adulthood, but it tentatively feels like a huge leap for our family rhythm and lifestyle!
I finally resolved that we needed to make a change. And apparently I am not the only one who recognized the insanity of our daughter's sleep situation, because Michael sighed deeply when he caught up with me later and said, "We HAVE to do something about this!!" Her sleep has been a huge problem for us since the day she was born. But now that she is 2.5, we realized that she may be ready to deal with this transition through reasoning, explanation, and reassurance.
Lola is very anxious about going to sleep by herself, so we really wanted to give her as much reassurance as possible. We use a nightlight and tell her multiple times that daddy is outside her door, if she needs anything. Sometimes the door can be shut, sometimes it must be open. Regardless, the sleep ritual requires multiple trips into her room to give her water, let her go to the bathroom, talk to her, read her a story, or reassure her that nothing is the matter. Lola also very much needs her bunnies during this process. But she is so brave and such a champ because she. is. actually. doing. it. I think she feels incredibly proud of herself, and also truly delights in my shock and surprise every morning when I exclaim over the fact that she fell asleep by herself!
It has been a surprisingly wonderful development, made all the more so by how swiftly it all has occurred. Since we first talked to her about it and playacted the scenario during the day, she has been pretty consistently good about it for her afternoon naps and bedtime. She has not bawled and actually the overall crying has been kept to a very limited amount, and surprisingly, she actually doesn't wake up in the middle of the night or cry out as much. I guess because she knows she went to sleep by herself, if she wakes up and sees no one with her, she doesn't immediately panic? Not sure, and it's still too early to tell if this will continue...
I guess this is just one of many small steps toward independence in the long path from infancy to adulthood, but it tentatively feels like a huge leap for our family rhythm and lifestyle!
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