The piece of sleep advice that I just can't seem to make work for Luke is to put him in his crib sleepy but awake. This morning I nursed him for my usual 20 minutes and put him in his crib. He happened to be awake, but I thought he was sleepy enough to drift off. Nope.
He screamed for 30 minutes at the top of his lungs before falling asleep. He did manage to take a 1.25 hour nap, which was good (esp. since he really doesn't get an afternoon nap) and unusual: usually he takes a 45 minute nap after crying himself to sleep.
The thing is, I know he needs to sleep. He was yawning and rubbing his eyes before I put him down. He was snuggling against me and not wanting to run around at top speed. But if he goes into his crib awake (or sometimes even when I bring him into a darkened room) he seems to think that I am trying to be a cruel tyrant who makes him do things he doesn't want to do.
Probably I'm putting him down when he's too tired... I feel like I can't do this right. One principle I have learned on my own, not from the sleep books, is that you can't make a child sleep, you can only create the right environment to encourage the child to sleep.
Maybe after our 15th kid I would finally get the hang of sleep (by that time I would be raving mad, but a sleep expert). On the other hand, if it were that easy, there wouldn't be all these books about it, I guess. For all of you who have children who sleep easily, count your blessings and try not to be too superior to those of us having trouble.
He screamed for 30 minutes at the top of his lungs before falling asleep. He did manage to take a 1.25 hour nap, which was good (esp. since he really doesn't get an afternoon nap) and unusual: usually he takes a 45 minute nap after crying himself to sleep.
The thing is, I know he needs to sleep. He was yawning and rubbing his eyes before I put him down. He was snuggling against me and not wanting to run around at top speed. But if he goes into his crib awake (or sometimes even when I bring him into a darkened room) he seems to think that I am trying to be a cruel tyrant who makes him do things he doesn't want to do.
Probably I'm putting him down when he's too tired... I feel like I can't do this right. One principle I have learned on my own, not from the sleep books, is that you can't make a child sleep, you can only create the right environment to encourage the child to sleep.
Maybe after our 15th kid I would finally get the hang of sleep (by that time I would be raving mad, but a sleep expert). On the other hand, if it were that easy, there wouldn't be all these books about it, I guess. For all of you who have children who sleep easily, count your blessings and try not to be too superior to those of us having trouble.
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