Dear Little Boys,
Why won't you sleep? I know I'm a lot of fun to play with, I give excellent hugs, I'm a great snuggler, and I'm the one with the bottle. But, Mom needs sleep. You need sleep. So, please, please, please sleep like the good Little Boys that you are. I promise you won't miss anything while you sleep; all your toys will still be here in the morning.
Love,
Mom
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I wish it was that easy. To just tell them to sleep. I'm constantly questioning what I've done in the past, what I'm doing now, what I should do differently. I try different techniques, but just when I think I have it figured it out they switch it up on me.
I've tried an earlier bedtime, a later bedtime, one long nap, two shorter naps, rocking them to sleep only for them to wake as soon as I put them in their crib. I've let them cry it out, but this just makes me feel like an awful parent and we all end up in tears.
I'm sure I didn't do things right in the beginning. If they made a peep I was there by their side trying to get them back to sleep because two crying babies is harder to get back to sleep then one at a time. Sometimes one wakes the other and other times one can sleep right through the other one's screams. I've tried playing soft music while they drift off to sleep. I feel like I've tried it all. I'm sure teething isn't helping the situation either.
This weekend they are staying the night at Mimi and Grand's. I hope that with me out of the picture they will do a better job at soothing themselves and getting back to sleep on their own. Maybe if they don't sense my presence they will sleep tight for an eight hour stretch. Fingers crossed!
If you have any suggestions for sleep strategies I haven't tried, I'm all ears.
Do NOT let yourself feel like an awful parent for letting one or both of the boys cry themselves back to sleep. Sometimes it's what you've got to do to show who's boss. Wasn't it you who wrote an outstanding blog post about mothers not being too hard on themselves?! :)
ReplyDeleteJulie Smith