Emma’s been going through some kind of sleep regression over the last week or so. She usually goes to bed SO easily. Drink a bottle, change into pajamas, read a book, lay her down in her crib, pat her back and say “good night Emma!” She smiles, rolls over, and goes to sleep. Just like that!
But for the last week, she smiles, rolls over…and then as soon as she sees me leave the room, she starts crying. HARD. And doesn’t stop. We’re usually successful rocking her to sleep at that point (at night anyway; rocking doesn’t always work for naps), but the rocking is not without her chewing on my shirt and her little hands clawing at my hair, my arm, my neck.
Chalk it up to a growth spurt, or a developmental leap, or your choice of reasons — whatever the cause, it stinks.
Although I know that in the grand scheme of things we have been SUPER lucky and that overall she has been an awesome sleeper, the sudden change has caused me all sorts of stress and frustration. Last night she started screaming as per usual when I tried to leave the room, so I sat down on the floor next to her crib.
I’ve tried this before, and it doesn’t work either because she sees me sitting there and decides it’s play time. She pulls herself up to standing and starts giggling like crazy. It’s outrageously cute — except for the fact that she’s supposed to be going to bed. So last night I quickly gave up on that idea and resorted to rocking her.
Twenty minutes later, I was tired of getting manhandled by a 9-month-old who still seemed to be wide awake. I gave up, put her in her crib, and prepared to leave the room and just listen to her cry for a bit. As an afterthought, I stuck the crib toy that my mom got her at Christmas on the railing. We use it often for naps, but haven’t used it for bedtime. It doesn’t really help anymore anyway — she just plays with it instead of going to sleep.
I clipped the toy to the rail, turned it on, and left the room to the tinkling sound of classical tunes.
No crying.
I walked into the living room and picked up the baby monitor.
She was lying in the crib and no music was playing.
In about 30 seconds, she had looked over, turned off the music (which she already knew how to do), laid down, and went to sleep.
Without a peep.
If I wasn’t so surprised, I would have been really annoyed.
Thank you Baby Einstein.
Jennifer says
Ha. Isla has never, ever rolled over and gone to sleep on her own that I can recall, with or without crib toys. Maybe once for a nap.
saroy says
Yeah. I feel somewhat guilty complaining, because I know we have been really lucky with Emma being a great little sleeper.
But you get used to what you know — and we have gotten so used to her going to sleep without issue that the slightest change is totally jarring.
Gavin says
Bedtime stories crack me up.
A few nights ago we found Drake quietly playing with blocks behind our couch.
It was 10:30pm.