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[wildflowersoul]

Last night West had a bad dream. He was sleep-crying (trust me, there's a difference between sleep crying and awake crying) and whimpering "No Gabby, No Gabby." Gabby is a girl in his daycare class, with whom he apparently fights like an old married couple. Or a couple of toddlers who want to be the boss of each other. It was so sad! He had been going to bed pretty easily for a while, but the past few days he's been putting up a huge protest at bedtime. I don't really begrudge it because it's been kinda nice to get some extra snuggles hugging him while rocking in the rocking chair. And he'll look up every once in a while at his twilight turtle stars with the biggest goofy grin (twilight turtle projects stars on the ceiling in a dark room and is one of the greatest baby inventions EVAR), and then look at me with that goofy grin like he's the happiest little guy in the world. Sometimes it's just perfect. We will ignore the totally random screaming fit in the middle of dinner tonight, even though he had been just happily munching on pasta and yelling "yay pasta!" seconds before. You can't win 'em all

Comments

[incandes-flower.livejournal.com]

Awww, poor muffin!

Quinn still isn't going to sleep on his own. We usually have to rock him for about a half an hour before he goes down. As he gets closer and closer to a year I keep thinking that he should start going to sleep on his own and I'm screwing up as a parent. *sigh*

Anyway, sounds like overall sleeping is getting better for West?

[wildflowersoul.livejournal.com]

You are definitely not screwing up. I am now convinced that every single kid is totally different when it comes to sleeping (and probably eating), and there is no "right way" to do it. If you aren't sick of rocking him, then I don't think it's a problem. I think it just gets to be an issue when parents are sick and tired of doing whatever it is they have to do to get the little one down. I still give West a pre-bed nursing session.

He'd been in a phase of going to sleep like a champ at bedtime, though that phase may now be over for a while (I think we're also at the 18 month sleep regression??). We're having some decent-ish success at slow night weaning. When he wakes up in the middle of the night asking for a milk break I've been able to stave him off with some back rubs and cuddles. But when he wakes up between 2-4 and asks for a milk break I give in and give him one, because this week that has been keeping him asleep longer in the morning, so he's actually been sleeping until almost 6:00. So basically, still not sleeping through the night, but I am trying to save my sanity by not being the all night open milk bar.

[doplar.livejournal.com]

Hopefully the worst part of the dream was Gabby taking away his toys and/or snacks! I wonder how kids' dreams develop over time and when they first get to the point when they can remember their dreams.

And, damn, there is such a thing as 18 month old sleep regression? You are a super mom!

[watchamacallit.livejournal.com]

Not to jump in as a stranger but... it was close to a year when we had enough with the sleep issues and hunkered down with the training. In our case, it was totally necessary because our son became resistant to all relaxation protocols and just screamed his face off. Ultimately, it was better to let him scream for a bit on his own instead of at us and, eventually, he became a much better sleeper.

I think the key is being able to recognize when whatever you are doing just isn't going to work anymore. Until that happens, you're doing just fine!

[wildflowersoul.livejournal.com]

That advice totally makes sense to me!

Also, I'm remembering that around 10/11 months was about when we were putting West to bed downstairs in the living room pack & play to start with because he would scream his fool head off upstairs. Drew would pretend to go to sleep on the floor and West would copy him. I don't think West settled down into falling asleep peacefully on his own upstairs until he was maybe 13-14 months.

[watchamacallit.livejournal.com]

Whoops. My comment was meant to be a response to your friend above who said she was 'totally failing.' But it really is what I believe... there is no solid right or wrong for the first couple of years; there is only 'what works for you and your family.'