I know it's crazy. My wonderful little man takes FOREVER to get to sleep. Ok, maybe not forever, but after 2 hours of crying, rocking, feeding, singing (softly, softly), sssshhhh-ing and walking the floor with a baby who's now well past a stone in weight, and he's STILL not asleep, it certainly feels like forever.
I've been reading the "no-cry sleep solution" by Elizabeth Pantley, and it's got some good tips and ideas in it. Last night, he probably cried less that he ever has, and went to sleep in an astonishingly quick one hour 40 mins. And, what's even more impressive, he was laid down, not being rocked, fed, or sung to. The 3 of us were laid on our bed, after an hour twenty minutes of settling him (using all of the above methods!) he was almost asleep, but the last wee bit he did all by himself. And it made me incredibly sad. Yup, you heard me right, sad. Sad to think, one day, maybe not too far away, we'll have bath time, story time, and then I'll put him down in his own cot and he'll go to sleep without us, without needing us.
I never used to understand Mum's who wanted to keep their children babies as long as possible. Mum's doing things for their children who are perfectly able to do it themselves. It holds the child back, ties up Mum's time, and, in the end both get frustrated. But it's scary, your baby moving on to the next stage. Yesterday we had the weaning talk, and if I'm honest I don't enjoy breastfeeding as much as I would like to; as much as other Mum's seem to. But still, when the health visitor said that by 9 months to a year, he should be on roughly 3 meals a day and should only need milk morning, night and possibly once during the day I felt that same pang. One day, he will no longer be my baby. He'll be Isaac; a person in his own right and he won't need me anymore. Each milestone, as wonderful, exciting and full of joy as they are, holds that same little twinge of sadness because it's one step closer to that day.
No comments:
Post a Comment