Thursday, March 19, 2009

True story

For a child who (always) already did not like sleeping in her crib, a week sleeping in a bed with Grandma did not bode well for the return of the crib. Even a temporary return.

To summarize the sleep post I have never written (I'm afraid of how crazy I will sound if I write it immediately after making my escape, and in the light of day everything seems strangely manageable): Will slept through the night at 2 months old. She stopped somewhere around 6 months old. This has not been a temporary situation. In other words, she has not slept through the night in 18 months.

Eighteen. Long. Months.

We tried exclusively cosleeping for a while, but her bedtime just got pushed further and further back and she became less able to settle at any time during the night.

I do not believe in crying it out. Period. So that was out.

We did finally settle into a workable routine in which she would start off in her crib (a hard won battle in and of itself, involving the Baby Whisperer's "pick up/put down" method) and then transfer into our bed at some point in the night.

Most of the time, she made the transition easily, but sometimes she tossed and turned and kicked and kept one or both of us up all night. This has increased as she has gotten older and bigger. And discovered the joys of sleeping with all of her limbs stretched across the mattress, something impossible to achieve in a crib.

We have only been home three nights from our vacation, but by this morning I thought I was going to lose my mind. No crib. Mama's bed. No this bed. No Mama's bed. Daddy! Sleep! Sleep! Sleep! But not here. No! Down! Mama! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

We ordered Will's mattress before facing last night's epic battle, but it won't be delivered for a week and a half. This morning I found myself sobbing on the couch as my daughter ate her oatmeal, and I knew I could not face another 10 nights like that.

So. I moved everything away from the reading/rocking/playmat side of her room. I hoisted the (very heavy) queen-sized mattress from the guest bed and manouevred it into the empty space. Will climbed all over it and positioned her pillow and her babies.

Then we went to the mall and bought two sets of sheets for the new bed (Dora and purple swirly things), with pillow cases that can be used now. And three pillows in various sizes and shade of purple. One is even in the shape of a daisy. All I need now is some kind of purple quilt or "coverlet" (as the saleslady called it).

Will is napping on the bed right now. She has stirred, but seems to have settled.

You can probably here my cry of desperation: Please please please let this work. Please?

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