We are in this right now, a few weeks before she turns two. Takes her naps perfectly but FIRMLY needs two attempts for bedtime every single night. If we try to be firm/let her cry she gets so hysterical we feel like it’s not okay so we just end up going back in there anyway. She also almost always wakes up around 5 or 6 am and needs to be helped back down. It’s brutal and I’m really hoping it’s just a temporary regression. Tried moving her bedtime back a bit but so far that’s not helping.
Just keep being firm and consistent with routine and she will re-adjust. Travel throws them off! Bedtime will keep throwing new challenges at you so set boundaries and hold to them as best you can (as an example, J doesn't sleep in our bed, that's the rule - it sucks when we have to get up to take him back to bed and settle him again but it maintains that boundary). Adjust accordingly when needed, just maintain consistency and communicate every step to her too. Even at almost 5 we still have to discuss every single step of the evening routine every single night and lots of time warnings, planned ignoring, etc to get to the end.
Both my kids went through this, starting at around that age. M grew out of it pretty quickly for the most part. L still hasn't really grown out of it but it's not consistently every night any more. No advice, but in my experience it's normal/a phase (with an unknown end date).
thank you all for your advice and commiserations. Last night I managed to get her down with only 2 additional re-laying downs. I should add that right after we got back from the vacation she was impossible to put to sleep AND to keep asleep...she'd wake up screaming for me in the middle of the night. So we have progressed from that, but I don't want this to become a new pattern. I'm also a bit worried that its because I'm a bad mom and don't spend enough dedicated time with her...and she's wanting that extra time with me at night. I work from home and have a side hustle, and while my workspace is literally right in the living room, its obv not the same as playing with her.
You’re not a bad mom! That’s hard, you’re human, and you can’t give 100% of your attention to all those things at the same time. I don’t know how the hell families with both parents working are doing it right now.
Thank you ladies. sorry, bad mom is what I think in my head. Its a bad habit to fix esp when times are hard and emotions are not...normal.
Fry desperately needs a nap today. I told him to try having some peaceful time, and if he can’t sleep because he has too much energy, I’ll bring him downstairs. He’s swearing “I have too much energy”, all while slurring his speech and forcing himself to scurry around (which is currently more of a stumble). It’s like being with a drunk who is SURE they’re totally sober.
I have definitely seen that with A. Acting like a tiny drunk lol. Hopefully he went down for you. Those days can be rough
We went to our neighborhood kiddie pool today and sat off to the side so she could just have a change in scenery. It was bittersweet because she was so interested in everyone but couldn’t get near them.
A just pooped on the potty for the first time today! She’s at day home today, so she got a treat there for going lol. She was so excited, saying “I pooped!”
Ugh Fry has this thing where he’ll sometimes impulsively kick things, and unfortunately he smirks when he does it. Today he tried it with our neighbor’s puppy (only neighbor’s daughter saw it). He didn’t make contact, but I brought him in the house, texted the mom and explained what happened, was super apologetic, told her we’re working on it, will email his teachers for suggestions, and that he faced consequences for it. Rooster told me the text made it sound like a bigger deal than it was, which was not what I needed to hear. It’s been half an hour and Fry’s still crying that he was taken away from the puppy. He’s so emotionally overloaded I can’t get through to him on the why, how to behave next time, etc. Just needed to vent. Stuff like this sucks, and moments like this make me really worry about Fry being isolated.
It really sucks! He’ll gather himself soon enough and eventually will learn why he shouldn’t do that. (Which won’t stop it from happening again as kids have zero impulse control...)
OMJG, mom wrote me back, was super understanding, said I was a great mom, and now I’m crying in gratitude because pregnant lady.
Yeah I think you did the right thing. Kids are going to be like that sometimes, but they need to learn about consequences too. You are a good mom
Say a prayer for my friend who’s 5 month old now rolls only back to front and now not swaddled sleeps for 1.5hrs max at a time at night.
They have and they used it until she could roll over, but getting stuck on your face without the use of your arms is the problem. I think the Snoo really straps them down but it’s $$$$$ and only useful for a couple months.
I think I've heard that the straps that come with the Snoo aren't meant for overnight use or something? Like, we're still not allowed to just tie them down.