Daphne is fine. She is great. She had her sixth-month check-up today. She is doing everything she is supposed to and more. This means that developmentally she is right on track. Her height and weight are still in the 90th and 97th percentile even though she has only gained two pounds since her last visit. The only "problem" we are having is that she is waking up several times a night. Her pediatrician thinks that this is a result of being comforted at night while she was sick. While comforting her at night (and yes, nursing her) is fine when she isn't feeling good, it isn't something we want her to do all of the time. So, now we have the horrible task of training her to sleep through the night. This is particularly difficult since we didn't have to do this when she was younger. I absolutely refuse let her cry herself to sleep. I can't take it. In fact, Jack is in her room right now trying the old bottle of water trick. Apparently giving babies water instead of breast milk or formula makes them not interested in waking up so much. We also don't want to teach her to be dependent on food for comfort.
This parenting thing is very difficult. You want your kids to be happy and secure all of the time, but sometimes you have to let them be unhappy. I am told this is for their own good. Why does it have to be that way? It is so counterintuitive to let your child cry when you know that you have what will make them feel better. Why is it that this culture thrives on creating independent beings? Is it really that important that infants sleep in their own bed? I love sleeping next to Daphne and I know that she loves sleeping next to me. Am I going to create a serial killer if I don't ban her from my bed? All of this is making me crazy right now and my recent sleep deprivation isn't making me very rational. I've got to stop all of this hippie talk before I start listening to The Grateful Dead and making beads out of clay.
Comments (5)
Ouch. Some time ago (like a month or two) we decided that Aidan could sleep through the night. He'd done it once or twice on his own, and getting up in the middle of the night was killing Tiffany. Well, making him "cry it out" almost killed her, too, but she (we) made it through, and he now sleeps eight to ten hours a night without needing us.
It is heavenly. We read lots of books (the No Cry Sleep Solution vs. Health Sleep Habits, Happy Babies) and never could get the image of "breaking" our baby out of our heads, but... it did work, and he seems none the worse for wear.
Right now I have embarked on a similar napping solution. It worked yesterday, but so far today we've had no luck with it. Hearing them cry for you is awful, but perseverance does seem to pay off, at least in our case.
Maybe Tiffany will comment, too, when she reads your post.
Posted by Danny | October 21, 2003 12:04 PM
Posted on October 21, 2003 12:04
Thanks for the book ideas. I am going to give it a week before we start letting her cry herself to sleep. I may have to wean her soon. There is no doubt who is in control of our lives right now.
I hope that Aidan gets through his first year without any ear infections. It is horrible.
Posted by Holly | October 21, 2003 12:55 PM
Posted on October 21, 2003 12:55
Who said you can't sleep with your child? She's only six month's old. Now if you wanted to sleep with her at 26 years I might be worried
Posted by darcia | October 25, 2003 10:16 PM
Posted on October 25, 2003 22:16
Holly:
I have two thoughts. One, I think Darcia's comment is an appropriate consideration. Second, how do you like to be reassured when you're upset? Does it help to have someone hold you, talk to you, sing or whisper to you? I hate to use the analogy of animal pets...but if I talk to any of my animals when they seem particularly disgruntled it seems to calm them down. It doesn't take a lot of time... 20 minutes maybe.
Posted by Vickie | October 26, 2003 9:54 AM
Posted on October 26, 2003 09:54
Thank you
Posted by ebony | June 27, 2005 3:38 PM
Posted on June 27, 2005 15:38