(no subject)

[greencurlymum]

I just tugged Lea in and of course she is crying. Last night she cried for nearly 90 minutes before finally falling asleep. I still can't bring myself to leave her all by herself, so I check on her after like 15 or 20 minutes. It is getting better and last night she slept from 6 pm until 5 am for the first time in her life. After 6,5 hours of sleep I felt like a person again for the first time in nearly six months.
Still, this is incredibly hard for me. Hurts sometimes more than giving birth, because I know I make her cry. Not right now, but I definitely spoiled her, taking her up too often, giving in because of her crying, cuddling her to sleep. That's why she is nearly half a year old and still not able to fall asleep on her own. I messed it up and now both of us have to pay for that.
I know that what I do is right, is necessary, yet I sat in the living room yesterday evening, hugging myself and crying, saying over and over again "I am doing the right thing."

Oh boy, she is getting really angry now. I know for a fact that she is tired. She has been wiping her eyes and tugging on her ear and I am sure that she needs her sleep right now. She just doesn't want to fall asleep on her own. I can totally understand her. I don't like falling asleep on my own, either; I am able to do it, however. And I can't do this for her forever. If she learns to fall asleep alone now, she will hopefully be able to calm herself when she wakes in the night and that is what I need to achieve before she gets her own room and calls me to her every two hours. And I definitely have to see this through now, because once she learns how to say "Mommy" I am as good as dead.

Comments

[puggie.livejournal.com]

Does she have a "Teddy"? It helped and still helps Simon a lot to fall asleep.
Starke Nerven wünsche ich euch...

[salika.livejournal.com]

Yes, she has one. A rabbit. But the rabbit isn't me, even though before putting her to bed I carry it under my shirt, so that it is still warm and smells like me.
That is exactly the problem, she won't accept anyone but me, not even her father.
Danke für die Wünsche. Jetzt ist Ruhe. Drück mir die Daumen.

[meritmaat.livejournal.com]

My sympathies. It is terrible to listen to your baby cry.
When my kids were younger, we simply carried them around until they slept, now we sing them to sleep. Works fine. But right now, neither of them falls asleep alone, they both fall asleep to my or Sönkes voice. Usually it takes only a couple of minutes.
Maybe if you are in the room with her, talking to her without carrying her around? Juri needs to hold mommys or daddys hand and he sleeps after one song.

[salika.livejournal.com]

I used to do that, stay in the room with her. Our bed time ritual is a story, then a song, then a goodnight kiss. Sometimes she falls asleep right away, sometimes she needs a couple of minutes more. The problem is that when she wakes up again during the night, she expects a story, a song and a goodnight kiss again. And I can't do that every two hours. She has to learn to calm herself on her own.
In the end I always went in again and sat beside her bed until she falls asleep, also last night. She woke up twice during the night, murmered herself to sleep again the first time and screamed bloody murder the second time.
Does Juri sleep the night through?

[meritmaat.livejournal.com]

Usually, he does. We had a time, too, where we would leave the room so he would learn to fall asleep by himself, but he was a bid older. Once in a while, he has phases, when he cries at night, so we go over and calm him, but our babysitter had to call us just once yet while she was sitting. She sometimes wondered whether he was really upstairs..
Good luck!