I still rock Colby to sleep. And he still often falls asleep with a bottle. In his mouth. And when he wakes up in the middle of the night, he often ends up back in our bed! (Oh, and yes, he's over a year and STILL drinking from bottles. Which he NEVER holds for himself. He's a little lazy like that.)
Whew. It feels better to get that off my chest. :)
I went to Colby's 1 year appointment on Monday terrified I would be yelled at by his pediatrician. Back when he was like 4 months old she cautioned me about putting him to bed while rocking him and feeding him a bottle. She didn't want him to get dependent on those crutches. And bringing him into bed? I was strongly cautioned against that.
Woops.
I didn't intend on breaking the rules, but it just happened. Kind of like having the twins at 27 weeks and losing Connor. It just happened.
In preparation of getting yelled at (which never happened, actually) I bought a book... "the no cry solution" or something like that. The idea of cry-it-out... well, I can't even stomach that (for me! I have no bad views on others who might do this!). So I needed something a little more... less tearful. (Probably more for me than for Colby...)
Right in the beginning the author (yes, I could just look at the title instead of being vague, but the book is in the basement on the treadmill and amazon is just too many clicks away) mentions that you should only embark on changing your child's sleep habits if they are truly bothering you and that you are changing the habits for you and your baby, not because someone else (doctor, mother, etc) makes you feel like the sleeping habits are wrong. And, aha! Lightbulb. Though Colby wakes up at least once a night, and though he ends up in my bed, and though I spend too much time rocking him, I love it. He's well rested, I'm rested enough, and I get precious cuddle time with my little bug.
And I think that's what I really have needed lately. This year has sucked at times, it's been traumatic, it's caused my entire reality to shift. I'm different. And if a little extra cuddle time helps that, what's the big deal? Even if he needs me to fall asleep now, I'm not worried that I'll need to follow him to college to rock him to sleep. :)
Anyways, 1 year appointment. My little peanut was 20lbs 1oz and 29 inches long. Might we actually end up with a tall child?!
He's doing perfectly, looking perfect. :) He got three vaccinations and a blood draw, though. :( Poor kiddo. I also make a referral to EI to get him reevaluated because of the language scores made at Infant FollowUp the other day. The more time goes by, though, the less I'm worried. Now he's saying "mama", "dada", "up", and "uh oh" pretty consistently. :)
5 comments:
Dont feel bad at all! I love snuggle time. At almost 11 months old, Bobby and Maya do sleep all night but when they are teething and wake up, I have no problem snuggling! And I love to rock them to sleep too. You arent alone in that! :)
I did CIO with my baby (currently 9 months) when she was 5 months old. It was the best thing ever. She sleeps 12-14 hours straight overnight (no wake ups), and falls asleep on her own in her crib. We just put her in there, say goodnight, and walk out. She's asleep in 10 minutes, with zero crying. 3 days of CIO definitely worked for us.
In no way am I saying you HAVE to do CIO or that it's the "right" way, I am just showing you that it can work and was wonderful for us.
Hailey (my daughter) never ever let us rock her to sleep. I've never done it, so that might be why I dont "miss" it, know what I mean?
Anyways, Colby's adorable :)
I've come to the same conclusion. If we're all happy and getting enough sleep then there isn't a problem.
I'm all for extra cuddle time myself!
Although Randi doesn't let me rock her to sleep (trust me, I would be if she would let me) she does still take a bottle at night to fall asleep and she sleeps in our bed. I know a lot of people don't agree with it but it works for us. Randi still wakes up 3-4 times a night so it's just so much easier if she's right in bed with me rather than having to get up and go to her crib that often. Bottom line, you do what works for you. Your child is healthy and happy and that's all that matters. You're doing great!
Definately do what's best for YOU and COlby!! Glad coby's checkup went great!!
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