February 20, 2013

  • Sleep Routine

    Dear Esmerelda,

    We are just under a month away before Mummy has to go back to school to finish up her practicum. There are so many planning sheets to complete, assignments that are due. Daddy and I talked about it last night and we both agree that you would need to learn a new routine. Daddy was really nice to help Mummy with the bed time routine last night so Mummy could get some planning and organising done. He created a nice calm atmosphere for you starting with bath time, then Mummy fed you and you fell asleep shortly after. We always hoped you would sleep through the night. 
     
    However, as with most nights you woke up 45 mins later. Daddy went into the room with you and tried to soothe you. He even tried to softly read your favourite book, "Go Baby Go" to you. He then walked out to make you a bottle in hopes to settle you down for bed again. He even sang you a lullaby over and over again as he tried to rock you to sleep. All the while, you fussed, screamed and cried. He checked your diapers to see if you needed to be changed. Nope, you were dry still. He checked to see if you were hungry. Nope, you weren't and had just had a bottle. He checked to see if your gums were bugging you. Nope, you were gumming down on his finger. Daddy continued to rock you while walking around the room hoping to soothe you so you could fall asleep in his arms. Then by chance, he happened to be close to the bedroom door and you stopped wailing and gave a lil laugh. Daddy noticed this and decided to do a lol experiment. He walked away from the door and just taking a couple of steps away from the door caused you to wail again. Daddy walked you closer to the door and you stopped and did a lil laugh again. Well, looks like you have figured out that all the fun happens on the other side of the bedroom door and you wanted to go out, "talk" with mummy and stay up for another hour or so. Mummy is to be blame for this. You would go down for 8ish and wake up at 9ish wide awake. Mummy would try to get you to go back to sleep but you would always be smiling and happy. So Mummy would pick you up and carry you to the living room while she get things done while holding you. 
     
    Tonight, with Daddy working at his PT job, Mummy decided to try a new routine. She would create a nice calm atmosphere before she started your bedtime routine. She had the lights in the  living room dimmed and read to you your favourite books. She gave you a bath all the while using a calm and low voice so as not to excite you. She started to sing a lullaby as she got you dressed in your PJs. Then we walked to the bedroom and you got a feed while Mummy held you in her arms on her lap. You slowly drifted to sleep but Mummy made sure  you got a good feed so you would have a full belly as you don't sleep well without one. 25 minutes later you were out. Mummy held you for 10 minutes more before gently putting you down. She sat there for a while making sure you were still asleep and settled before she walked out to take a quick shower. 
     
    Mummy had barely gotten herself dressed after her shower when she heard you fussing and crying. She peaked into the room from the door to see if you were awake or you were just fussing and would go back to sleep. 5 minutes later, your fussing were starting to turn into cries so she walked over to you to console you and to let you know that she was still around. You stopped crying the moment you saw Mummy next to you. 5 minutes later, after comforting you, Mummy ducked out of sight but stayed by the side of the bed. Mummy then commando crawled to the foot of the bed and sat against the wall facing the bed and waited for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes Mummy went over to comfort you once more and then ducked out of sight to the same spot for 10 minutes.  Mummy did this cycle of 5 minutes of comforting followed by a period of staying out of sight that got longer by 5 minutes after each time she had to comfort you. 
     
    Each time Mummy had to sit at the foot of the bed waiting for the time to be up so she could go to your side to comfort you, she would try to distract herself by texting your Aunty or catch up on some blog reading. It was hard for Mummy to let you try to cry it out and soothe yourself to sleep. By the time Mummy was at the end of the 25 minutes staying-out-of-sight cycle (you had been crying and screaming through each cycle Mummy was out of sight) you were still awake and smiling every time Mummy was there to comfort you. You weren't in any discomfort as Mummy had checked to see if you were hungry, if your gums were bugging you or if you needed a change of diapers every time Mummy was there next to you. Mummy didn't have the heart to carry on anymore by this point, so you were picked up and comforted. 
     
    Mummy 0. Esmerelda 1000. We'll try again tomorrow night. 
     
    Love,
    Mummy 
     
    PS : Tomorrow, we're bringing back the bassinet and giving that a try again. You didn't like it before. Every time you were laid down, when you fell asleep in my arms, you would wake up the moment your body touched the bassinet. So yea... fingers AND toes crossed.

Comments (1)

Post a Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

Categories