It's getting closer and closer to the baby coming so we thought it was time to do the impossible - take away Leah's pacifiers. It was actually past due because she had to have one in her mouth and one in her hand every time she went to sleep. And we didn't want her to get jealous of the baby having a binkie. It wasn't totally impossible but it has been quite a struggle to get some sleep at night.
Last Saturday Logan had this great idea of taking her to the store with her pacifiers in a ziploc bag and exchanging them for a barbie doll. She is really into the Disney princess girls so she picked out a Beauty and the Beast Barbie doll.
She was so distracted looking at all the dolls that she had no problem leaving her binkies at the store. (We actually didn't leave them there, but when she wasn't looking we took them with us). She said "bye, bye binkies" and went home as happy as could be.
That afternoon was rough. She didn't take a nap after I tried to get her to for an hour or so. She went to sleep fairly well that night being so tired but woke up unhappy in the middle of the night. The next day was just like the first - no nap and exhausted by bedtime. One of the only ways to get her to sleep was to bring the rocking chair back into her room from the baby's room and rock and sing her to sleep. She just wouldn't stay in her bed to sleep.
But after a couple of days of doing that and fighting her to sleep, especially in the middle of the night, we decided to come up with a different plan. Tonight I spent extra time with her reading books, singing songs, and explaining over and over that I was going to say "night, night" and not come back in.
Well, our plan went fairly well tonight. She cried for a little while but eventually stopped asking for me and went to sleep. I went to check on her about 40 minutes later, and she was in her bed asleep. I hope this means that we're making progress for the future.
I just don't want to be already sleep deprived before our newborn makes his arrival. And let's just pray that he is a much better sleeper than his sister.
6 comments:
Oh, good to catch up! That picture of Leah with her hands by her face is so pretty! It will be fun to see what her little brother looks like.
Happy Halloween Molyneuxs!
I just love binkies when the babies are small...but getting rid of them is a whole other story. Good luck getting sleep tonight. And you are right, you need to rest up for the new baby. You are getting so close! Good luck and don't forget to post a birth story and pictures of the new little one.
Great idea! Bria's also way into the Disney Princesses. We have the same doll but in Ariel (of course). Hope Hillary is feeling well! it's countdown time!
I think you already know, but we just went through the same thing with Carter. We took away his binkies about 2 months before the baby was born. He stopped napping and took a long time to go to sleep at night for the first few weeks. Now he goes to sleep without a problem and doesn't even care that the baby has a binky. (We were afraid that we would go through the trauma of taking his away just in time for him to steal the baby's binky!) It's rough at first but she will learn other ways to soothe herself. Good luck in the mean time...I completely understand!
Oh good luck Hill. I remember when we got rid of Ethan's. It's funny how they get hooked on them. I can't believe how close you are : ) I'm so excited for you to have a little basketball player.
Hillary, when are you going to post a recent pregnant-belly picture? You haven't posted one since October 2nd! And good luck trying wein Leah from her pacifiers-- Cadi still asks for hers! : )
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