Sleep

We’ve definitely entered a new Era of Zibby’s Bedtime. Once upon a time, before Zibby quit napping during the day, her bedtime (meaning, the time at which she was generally tired enough to go to sleep) was between 11 pm and 1 am. Occasionally Id attempt to manipulate this to a (much) earlier time, say, by trying to skip a nap. Occasionally for some legitimate reason (other than my own agenda) something would happen to alter her bedtime and it was always a huge mistake. She’d be crabby and difficult and it was always apparent that we needed to adapt to her bodyclock.

It was particularly hard for Buzz, since she usually went to bed hours after he did. We rarely had evening time alone, and he never had any time to himself in the evenings at all. But, when she was between 3 and 4 she quit napping and her bedtime moved on its own to 8-9 pm. I always nursed her to sleep, and because this was her body’s tired time, it took usually less than 10 minutes for her to fall asleep. I had night-weaned her during my pregnancy with Henry, so by this time, if she ever woke up during the night, it was rare, but possibly due to needing to use the bathroom or wanting a sip of water.

For the last several months (6?) we’ve been occasionally talking about falling asleep without nursing. There were rare instances of Zibby falling asleep in the car (at night, around bedtime) or watching tv, but mostly the idea was met with extreme resistance. She would not fall asleep at her regular time unless I nursed her. If I didnt, she would stay up several extra hours. I really wondered how she would fall asleep without nursing.

Well. Im here to report that it just…worked out. While on vacation, Zibby slept in a bed by herself and several evenings, after a super long and busy day, she would get into bed and I’d just say, “I’ll sit here in this chair by you until you fall asleep” , and she’d say ok and just…fall asleep. When we got home, Buzz took over bedtime and goes in with her until she is asleep. Sometimes he comes back out, sometimes he falls asleep too. I think that gradually this will go smoother and faster.

Even just a month ago, I didnt know when or how this would work. 5 years ago, I certainly didnt know. What I DID know, was that I never wanted to fight about bedtimes, or make my child lie awake by themselves for hours on end alone in a room, or make my child cry themselves to sleep. I wanted to trust my self and my child, and I did, and it worked out just the way it ought to.

Cool.

Filed under all about the zibster, daily life, parenting, ponderings, sleep | Comments (5)