The never ending night
What do you do when nothing else works? The perfect bedtime routine… Lavender pillow spray, night lights, special stuffed animals, perfectly scheduled bath time with low lights and soft classical music, the list goes on. What do you do when it’s 2:30 AM, and they just. won’t. sleep… They’re screaming, you’re exhausted and best of all, someone has work in 4 hours. WHAT DO YOU DO?
Reset
When my third son decided one summer after a wonderful experience with HFM that sleep was not only for suckers, but a form of torture, we all about lost it. Now a year later, how have we survived the STILL HAPPENING sleep strike? With the reset. It finally hit me one night. 2 hours past bedtime 10pm, he was screaming and the need for me to finish my “closing shift” tasks around the house was creeping quickly in (my own 11pm bedtime was approaching with heavy lids and achy legs). I walked up the stairs, scooped is little angry toddler body into my arms and we marched right to the bathroom. 10 minutes later we were both in the bath, and he was asleep in my arms. I couldn’t understand. Why did he fall asleep so quickly while I held him in the bath with me? But not in his bed, in the rocking chair, in my bed? Because he needed a reset.
FOMO is a MOFO
He knew that beds and rocking chairs equals missing out. When I took him to the bath, lights off, and just held him, he didn’t have to worry about missing out on the exciting things mom was going to do after he went to sleep. (when do they realize it’s just dishes? It’s always dishes…) He was getting mom’s undivided attention that wasn’t bedtime related. Something I think middle children are always hungry for unfortunately. I cracked the code that night. Now when he just won’t sleep, he and I find a place that’s not “bedtime” attached: a walk in the stroller, rocking on the porch swing, a bath and we just be. Not always, but about 90% of the time, he’s snoozing within 10 minutes. Sometimes all our babies need is to have us see them, and then the dishes can happen after.