I admit that there are times when I desperately hope for Little B to fall asleep in the car. For example, the eight hour drive to and from Wisconsin last week. I know it's not an ideal nap and everything I've read about creating good sleep habits strongly advises against it, but sometimes it's just impossible to get out of the house and get anything done if we stick to a strict nap schedule at home. Not to mention, Little B is not always predictable when he wakes and how long he sleeps.
But even though on the previously mentioned drive to Wisconsin he barely slept a wink even at expected nap times, he always manages to fall asleep in the car when I least want him to. Like the twenty minute drive to and back from dropping Kaelyn off at preschool. All the experts say to try to keep them awake in the car, and on these occasions I would love to. But I must ask them, just how exactly do I keep someone who can sleep through all sorts of talking and music (when he wants to) and is sitting behind me facing the other away from falling asleep? Impossible I tell you.
He did it again today. And for the life of me I can not remember how I was ever able to transfer Kaelyn from car to crib and keep her asleep. I know I did many times. I wasn't successful every time with her but I have not once been able to do it with Brennan. Oh, infant car seat how I miss you! I long for the days of being able to pop him in and out of the car without worrying about waking him.
While we're on the subject of breaking the rules I have another confession to make. I frequently nurse Brennan to sleep. In my defense it's not always intentional or what I desire. I can't help it if he happens to be hungry at the same time he's ready for a nap or bed, or the fact that sometimes it's the last resort after what seems like hours (in reality it's probably only fifteen minutes) of screaming and clawing at my face. I'm sure it would help if I could get him on a better sleeping and eating schedule but my attempts so far have failed. How can I force him to eat or sleep at a time he's just not hungry or sleepy? He has a mind of his own and will strongly resist either if he's not ready for it. Getting him to sleep can be physically and emotionally draining. Last week my mom compared getting him to sleep to wrestling an alligator. The boy is strong I tell you. I challenge anyone who doubts me to rock him to sleep even when he is tired. You won't judge me so much after seeing how hard he fights it.
And so, though I know we must do it soon for our own good and Brennan's, I am not looking forward to sleep training him. Kaelyn was such a good sleeper I'm not sure how I'm going to handle it. We did have to let her cry it out for a couple days around 9 months when she suddenly refused to go to sleep at nap or bedtime. It worked quickly and well with her (I might have told a different story when we were in the middle of it), but I think B is going to be a whole different story. Maybe we'll put it off just a little bit longer, you know, until he's over his ear infection and cold and the next thing that comes up, and the next...
He'll want to sleep by the time he's a teenager, right?
No comments:
Post a Comment