THE PLAN:
I've put Genevieve on the Baby Whispering plan.
THE STRUGGLES:
At first, the whole pick up/put down process for settling her to sleep in her crib took up to 40 minutes. Now, we're down to anywhere from 3-10 minutes, and that's with only a day into this.
THE TRIUMPH (MAYBE):
Gennie went from 11pm-6:30 am last night without nursing. Unfortunately, neither my husband nor I can recall for certain if she cried or screamed excessively last night, other than a shriek session from 5am-5:45am. The level of tiredness I feel would seem to indicate that I slept very little, but my sleep-deprived brain has drained me of any memory.
THE END?
The most interesting part of this process has been letting go of the constant nursing (snacking, really) and catnaps, and, instead, guiding Gennie toward deeper sleep and fuller feeding. There have been times in the past day where she was so bright and sunny that it seemed she could understand that we were working toward this together, and that she could begin to soothe herself at night.
And I felt so pleased for her indpendence, and so sad at knowing that it's the first step of many away from me, and toward herself, and who she will become. I post on a mama blog and many mamas had conflicted feelings about encouraging a 6-month-old to sleep longer and nurse less frequently. I understand their concerns, because it's saying that a baby is ready to have some autonomy. One mama on my blog said that babies are meant to be held and snuggled all the time. I'm not so sure--I love snuggling Gennie, but I also love letting her explore beyond the boundaries of my arms.
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4 comments:
In the end, no matter what books or fellow mamas say, it is you and your wee one that figures out what works best. Each mother and baby combo is unique and nothing works for everyone. Once I let go of trying to follow all of the advice through books (I pulled bits from many books, rather than make one my bible) and word of mouth I was able to exhale and I think we are doing pretty ok.
Very true, Bridgermama.
You know, we were just completely at sea with how to help Genevieve learn to sleep and nap. You'd think she was our first child!
Applying books to babies is a little like chaos theory, but sometimes, in the middle of the night, when I'm wondering what on earth to do next to help Genevieve, I feel like the books are our only hope!
By the way, what a cutie patootie baby!
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