Or am I the only one who is a million zzz's in debt from lack of sleep?
I have struggled for the last 7 months getting my little cowboy to sleep. And some nights, hell, most nights, we had NO sleep at all. Until now. I have finally found a secret to getting him to sleep. I am here to give you sleep deprived moms and dads a chance at getting much deserved REST!
Lets start here: The 3 R's
1. Routine
2. Repeat
3. Rest
Routine is the answer to everything!!! And as simple as it sounds, i will warn you now, its not. Honestly a routine takes time, a lot of effort and most importantly... patience. You need to set a routine and repeat each day. Of course in the first week you may have to tweak it a bit to better fit your schedule and your child's needs. But once you have a routine that works for your family, you need to repeat it daily with no drastic changes, If you go changing the routine up all the time, its not a routine at all. Your baby isn't going to know what comes next. Babies NEED routine. They need to have that "what to expect" sense.
Babies already have a routine per say. When they cry, Mommy and Daddy come to soothe them. They expect that, They are on a feeding routine, for example, mine eats every 3 hours. When it gets close to that 3 hour mark, he knows, his tummy is hungry and its time to eat! Simple things like that is all part of your infants routine. However the hard part is left up to us. How much to feed, how often to feed, when to give baby food, when to give snacks, how often to give baths, when is play time, when is quiet time, will you leave a night light on, when can your infant watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and when should they settle down for bed? There are so many things that lead up to bedtime and frankly by the end of the day, my baby would be so wired up that he would have no desire to sleep at all. And when i tried to get him to sleep by rocking and swaying and swinging and bouncing and walking he would get totally pissed off! He didn't want to go to bed. He wanted to stay up and play. He wasn't tired. He just had 25 strawberry yogurt bites and thats enough sugar for him to keep his eyes open an entire week! Of course, Im in tears wondering why the kid wont sleep. Trying all i can to get him to stop crying and just take a nap, a short nap, an hour, or even 30 minutes. I was DYING for an ounce of sleep!
After complaining to just about everyone i knew, their mommas, and their sisters, cousins, friend who had 13 kids, just about everyone of them gave me advice and none if it was the same. Half of it was scary, most of it was stupid and none of it worked. The shit people told me to do was CRAZY! One lady mentioned benadryl. One mentioned melatonin! NO IM NOT GOING TO DRUG MY SWEET BOY TO SLEEP!!! Just an FYI, your infants brain makes melatonin already. It makes plenty enough for your baby to get to sleep. He or she doesn't have a brain issue causing them not to sleep. Its a routine issue, and a routine does not require drugs to set your baby straight. Rant over. Someone mentioned rubbing some whiskey on his gums. And that's when i said "Honey, i believe you must be an alcoholic to suggest my infant should get his daily dose of alcohol each night." HELL NO. DOUBLE HELL NO. And of course not all the suggestions people gave me were this dramatic. I had one tell me to turn the tv up really loud and rock him to sleep because the noise would be comforting and little sounds wouldnt disturb him once he did fall asleep. And ill tell you all that did was up his little heartrate and he got excited about what he was seeing on the loud ass tv! The list goes on and on. Ill end it there,
Be thinking of a routine you think would work for your baby. Tomorrow night ill share what our routine is and why it works! I now have a sleeping baby and im no longer a zombie all day! Life is good!
Happy New Year!
