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Tuesday, October 19, 2010

It’s a long story…

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The short of it: Pebble just went to bed in her cot, on her own, in 5 minutes.

The longer story?

It all began with Pebble spending the early hours of every morning in our bed, which just wasn’t working for everyone’s best nights sleep. It moved on to me sleeping in a single bed in Pebble’s room next to the cot. Which moved on to me sleeping in my own bed (for one night) before the standing up and crying started (Pebble’s, not mine). She stood up. I lay her back down. She stood up. I lay her back down. She stood up. I lay her back down. In between all that there was the ‘throwing the dummy out the cot and watching Mummy pick it up’ trick'. Fast forward two hours (12am to 2am) when she finally collapsed into sleep and I lay in the dark plotting my next move.

The single bed in Pebble’s room had been the Child Youth Health nurse’s suggestion, so I rang them again to find out what they suggested next. The answer: ignore her. Ignore her unless she is actually crying. Not whinging, not playing, but crying.

So, I tried that, and it worked quite well. I stayed in the same room but ignored all her attempts to get my attention. Things improved swiftly over a number of nights, until I was back in my own bed again all night last night. Pebble. Slept. Through.

REPEAT: Pebble Slept Through The Night.

Huzzah!

Oh wait. No huzzah. Retracted huzzah.

At morning nap time today, following all the usual tired signs, I went through the usual bed time routine and popped Pebble in her cot. One. Hour. And. Much. Hysterical. Sobbing. Later. she slept.

I rang my trusty nurses again to get reassurance that I’m not an ogre of a mother, that Pebble will not hate me forever, and that she needs my persistence and consistency, and I prepared myself for the arvo nap.

So here we are. Back to the five minutes to sleep. I popped her in bed, said Goodnight I Love You and with one little grizzle (hers)and a sideways glance (mine), she went to sleep.

I’m not counting my chickens or anything but, gosh, was that ever nice! For her and for me.

Wish us luck for bed time tonight!

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3 comments:

  1. Good luck! And, just to reassure you ( and because you've been absent from blogs for a while ) Flynn and i have just spent a week down at Tresillian in Sydney where the nurses encouraged me to use the controlled crying technique and.... within a day, and for the last two weeks since, Flynn has been sleeping from 6:30pm til 6:30am. And having a one hr nap in the morning, 2 hrs in the arvo. Falling asleep in his own cot.
    So .... if we can do it, so can you!

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  2. It's so bloody hard this sleep caper Kylie. We still have major recurring sleep issues with the Bebito and he's 2, especially when he's come out the other side of being unwell. I just enjoy the easy settle when it happens. And, you're in no way, an ogre!! xxxx

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