bedtime bores

For me, putting the kids down for a nap or bedtime is up there with doing the dishes. I recall that it would take me almost two hours to get my first son to nap, and then he'd only sleep for 45 minutes to an hour. The effort sometimes didn't seem worth it. I found it much easier and pleasurable for me to take him out for a walk in the stroller. That would take all of 10 minutes before he was out.

Bedtime was equally challenging. When he was an infant, he would sometimes cry inconsolably, and being an anxious new mother, it made me doubt having children. For awhile, it didn't get any easier because we'd have to stay in the room until he fell asleep. Oh sure, we tried the Ferber method, (and the Super Nanny suggestions, and the no-cry sleep solution), but it would often prolong bedtime because he could cry for over an hour. It was often draining and frustrating. We felt like chumps when we went to Fire Island with three other families, and we were the only ones who didn't just put the child in the crib at bedtime and leave the room.

We vowed to be stricter, more effective with our second child (D), and for awhile, that seemed possible. I remember being able to put D down when he was a baby and leave the room, and he would only cry for five minutes, if at all. It was bliss. But it wasn't forever. Now, at two years old, D often insists that one of us  "lie down [with] me" until he falls asleep. Last night it took over an hour for the kids to fall asleep and I didn't leave the room successfully until 10 pm.

How I long for the day when they can read their own bedtime stories and put themselves to sleep.

Comments

[Kris]

We do the same thing every bedtime and it's boring but it works. It's basically the same time every night. they each get to pick one book. We read the books in the big bed, then Hank brushes his teeth and pees and gets in bed. Sam follows. Then I sing each of them the same good night song (made up) that I have sung for several years. And that's it. Boring, and utterly predictable, but it works for us.