You would thing after 6 weeks I would have better stuff to write about than sleep issues. Hey at least it?s not poop.
We are still having some serious sleep issues. I can?t seem to get a direct answer no matter where I look. So once again I leave it to you oh wise internets.
As mentioned frequently the boy is a rocker. While in Russia we were able to stop the rocking and we did know that we would have to revisit this issue when we came home. In Russia we would lay in the bed with him and put a hand on him to litterally hold him down so he wouldn?t rock. It typically took 10-15 minutes to get him to sleep. No problem.
When we returned home we transitioned the boy into his crib. Our technique of holding him down worked flawlessly. We thought we had the rocking thing licked. Oh little did we know.
The boy quickly learned that his mother hates the rocking. Mostly the mother hates it because in Russia the father didn?t want him to rock and to me repeatedly. So I didn?t let him rock. Now that we are home the boy won?t sleep without rocking so I let him do it.
Here is typical naptime routine for us. We sit together and watch the last 15 minutes of Sesame Street. Go into his bedroom and do a quick diaper change if needed. Close the curtains and rock in the rocking chair for about 5 or 10 minutes. I put him in his bed, give him Steve the Cat and cover them both up. Here is where it gets tricky. If I stand next to the crib he will just lay there and look at me and most of the time laughs at me. If I sit in the chair where he can?t see me he just plays with Steve, the blanket, the crib bumper or the wall. Depending on what I will allow into the bed (Steve and the blanket.) If I leave the room he rocks. Now it is becoming that if I sit in the chair he rocks too. I have been leaving the room and letting him rock himself to sleep. It takes somewhere around 5 minutes for him to rock himself to sleep, but today was more like 10-15. He does get to sleep though. It is also not possible to rock him almost to sleep in the chair. The second you stand up to put him in the crib he wakes up.
I will add one more caveat here. HE DOES NOT CRY. There is absolutely no crying involved. If he does cry it is sooooo much easier to get him to sleep. It used to be that he would cry and pitch a fit when I would hold him down. Now holding him down only results in laughter. So I stopped doing that. The only crying that has ever been involved was at 5 am today. It was still dark and I thought I had him back to sleep and took two steps away from the crib and he started crying again. He ended up in bed with us this morning.
So here is what it boils down to. He rocks when I try to put him to sleep. Afternoon or night. He only rocks a little and never laughs when his father puts him to sleep. Do I continue to let him rock himself to sleep and hope that this issue will go away by himself?
This causes me so much anxiety. I feel so inadequate as a parent. I feel like there is nothing I can do to comfort my child. I am so afraid of this causing major issues down the road. I need a clear answer on this one people. And that whole “do what you think is right” stuff just isn?t going to fly. We already know I am making up most of this parenting thing as I go along. Why don?t they give new parents some kind of guide book or something?