Nighttime Routine

[sivatonight]

The other night, I decided to put Céleste to bed. I said that I would try to just lay her down and see if she would fall asleep on her own. So I laid her down in her little bed beside me, talked to her and tried to soothe her to sleep. I told myself that I didn't want her to get used to having to be rocked or held to fall asleep

Comments

[revjim]

You're right. Maybe it's selfish but I don't care. When she's older we'll deal with how to get her to sleep when she won't let us rock her any more.

[sivatonight]

A french song that I used to sing in choir in high school. It's about a mom that sings a song to her daughter (how appropriate!) about a sailor. I wonder if there's an english translation of it floating on the internet somewhere ... hmm. Now you've got me thinking. :)

[rubyawake]

Good for following your mama instincts. Luke is almost a year old, and I STILL rock him to sleep. He's not going to fit into my arms forever, and I don't much buy into the whole sleep training business. The thing is, I don't know any 25 year olds who need rocked to sleep, so eventually, they must grow out of it.:)

[soleil_du_matin]

fancy seeing you here!

[rubyawake]

Why hello!:)

[sivatonight]

Very good point. :)

She's just so small, it seems just not right to let her sit there and cry and cry ... she has no idea what's going on! All she knows is that she's not happy and she wants someone to fix it and no one is doing that. That just seems mean.

[vaxocentric]

Awww
That's really sweet

Good for you!

[jaclyn]

Have you read much about attached parenting(AP)?

I'm a firm believer. I'll never let my baby "cry it out", I'll never think they are maniuplating me for more milk, more snuggles, more whatever. People try to teach 'lessons' to their babies, when really, they are babies for criiisssakes!! They don't have the capability to think the way we think, or learn the way we learn.

I always think back to the animal kingdom where the little animals are always snuggled up next to momma for milk or comfort and that lasts quite a while, until the animal feels 'ready' to explore or move on it's own.

I'm a member of attachedparents and there are several books out there available as well if you're interested.

One website I like: http://www.attachmentparenting.org/artwhatis.shtml

Re: Good for you!

[sivatonight]

I know a little about it. Some of it I completely agree with, and other parts don't seem to fit me too well.

It's hard when the "older generation" keeps saying "You've got to let her cry a little!" "She needs to fall asleep on her own now or she never will!" After a while I come to wonder if they're not right. I mean, my parents let me cry it out and I turned out fine ...

But then I look at my little girl, and she's sitting in her bed crying, with no idea why someone isn't coming to help her and fix what's wrong, and it seems so unfair. She doesn't know the difference! She just wants some love and closeness and how can I deny her that? After being snuggled so nice and warm in my womb for 9 months, and now she's in this big, cold, scary world ... hell, I'd want to be held and rocked and sang to as well.

I bookmarked the link you provided, and am going to check out that community. Thanks again for being so full of knowledge, and sharing it with me. :)

xoxoxox