Hi, my name is Brooke.
Collective Group: Hi Brooke.
My daughter is a paciholic. It all started on Harper's birthday. One of the nurses thought she might enjoy it. She put the pacifier in Harper's mouth and there was no turning back. From there, the habit only got worse. And yes, I admit....I'm an enabler. I think, just one little suck and it'll calm her down. I won't do it again. Just this once.
Harper is starting to develop a few bad habits that could turn into big problems in the future. One is the pacifier problem. She really is addicted. She'll be all dandy and then suddenly get worked up about nothing. But the second that paci hits her lips, she's fine. And there's no falling asleep without it. I'm starting to hear that wishka-wishka-wishka sucking noise in my sleep!
Our other bad habit we're battling comes around nap time. Harper does not like to nap alone. Her morning nap usually only lasts about an hour and typically happens if we're out running errands or on our morning walk. The afternoon nap is another story. I try to give her a bottle right around 3pm and then put her down right after. She'll be sound asleep in my arms. I'll quietly walk her to her crib, set her gently down and as soon as she hits the mattress, her eyes fly open and she flashes a big smile. From there, there's no turning back. She's clearly tired because she continues to rub her eyes. I've tried leaving her in there to cry it out. I've tried setting her down before she falls asleep so she can have some quiet time and then go to sleep on her own. I've tried turning her mobile on. I've tried our nighttime routine of reading, rocking and singing. Two days ago I put her in her sleep sack and she took a two hour nap in her crib - BINGO! Um, well, maybe not - we tried the exact same routine the last two days with no luck. If I pick her back up, she falls asleep again almost immediately and then we go through the same routine. She can literally sleep for three hours if Jared or I are holding her. I think she's realized things go on during nap time and she's just not going to miss out on them by being shut up in her room. And yes, I love to snuggle with my little girl. Sometimes my favorite thing to do in the afternoon is to take a nap with Harps. But two hours of holding a sleeping baby every day??? Do you know how much I could be getting done in those two hours? Instead, I'm held hostage and completely caught up on the lives of Ellen and Oprah since this falls between 3pm and 5pm....by the way, did you know Oprah had a sister she never knew about??? This is getting a little ridiculous.
So to you moms out there, any advice?
Oh, and someone in the Meabon household is pretty excited about Superbowl Sunday! Let me give you a guess - its the one with the XY chromosomes and his name is not Rooney. GO STEELERS!
Pre-Game Dinner 
Half-Time Hygiene
14 comments:
All I know is kids don't go to kindergarten with paci's, so she'll outgrow it. Julie took Macy's and Marshall's away at about age 2, but then Marshall swallowed a screw, which came out eventually, and Macy swallowed a plastic needle, which we've never seen, after lots of doctor's visits. Your mom jokingly said one time that maybe the paci's were taken away too soon since they both kept putting things in their mouths! :-) I'll tell you her tricks to getting rid of them when you decide it's time. It worked really, really well. Enjoy sleeping with her. She'll be going off to college soon, you know! Really!
Ohh enjoy those sweet moments with her. That pic of her in your arms is just too sweet. I love sleeping baby pictures. My kids were not that big on pacifiers (not addicted anyway)..but they have been to a paci party where all her friends put all the paci's in a decorated bag and the paci fairy came and took the paci's to other little girls in need (she was 3 and it worked)! AND when Harper turns two and you need a mute button you have one!!
and I had NO idea Oprah had a sister!! that's nuts!!
Hi, I'm Lisa.
My son is a paciholic.
My son loves to be held. All.the.time.
I have no advice. :)
And Gooooo Steelers!!
Hi, I'm Sanders:)
I'm addicted to Yo Gabba Gabba, Dr. Smith's diaper cream, prunes and grunting to get what I want.
Harper and Filed - get off the the Soothie. They are not cool anymore. I like Advent pacifiers, esp. when dipped in queso or sweet tea.
In terms of napping, my mom finally quite swaddling me and it has been an adjustment. She always used to rock me to sleep for all naps, now she lets me cry or fuss before running in and lifting me up. I like having my blabla (or stuffed friend) with me in bed because it helps me fall asleep.
I have no idea why I'm still writing in 3rd person- haha! My advice is to not let Harper get too tired before putting her down. And I've finally accepted that it is ok to let me cry it out for a while. I normally give him 10-15 min. and if he is still crying a shrill cry, I will get him. It was hard at the beginning, but now if I put him down in his crib at home he knows it is nap time and will go to sleep:)
I loved this blog entry intro - so funny. Too bad our brains aren't pre-programmed to know how to handle all of our baby-raising questions......
Don't worry about the paci - there will be a time to give that up when she's much older. Riley spit her's out one day and went with the thumb, which I wasn't thrilled about. But again, there will be a time (sooner than later) that we'll work on phasing that out. Just be happy that the paci works and lets you sleep! I don't know about the naptime thing. We eventually let Riley cry it out in her room - 5 minutes then 10 minutes at a time. One day after 10 minutes it clicked and she was done. Do you have a sound machine like a Sleep Sheep? Sometimes those are nice for the background noise. Good Luck! (Although you should also enjoy that snuggle time because once she starts really getting around she won't sit for that anymore!)
Hey Brooke!
My daughter is now 8 months and is still addicted to the paci and I just can't imagine taking it away from her. I too, had issues with nap time. She would not sleep unless I held her. I had to go back to work a couple of months ago and decided that I needed to figure this out. I bought the book, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child and although I do not agree with every single thing written, I cannot tell you how much the book has helped. Timing is crucial. Good Luck and you are such a great mommy!
Don't worry about the paci! She can give that up much later in life. Try putting her to nap around 1:30 and letting her cry for a while. Sometimes extremely sleepy babies like to pretend they're ready for a party but really, if they had gone to bed earlier they'd sleep much longer. And, our boys love sound machines. There's one at Bed, Bath & Beyond that has a projection on it so they can watch little "movies" on the ceiling. Incredible!
How about a comment from a dad! :). The pacifier is no big deal. I would suggest buy more of what she likes because when she starts moving around in the crib you'll want her to be able to find one to put in her mouth. We used to have 2 or 3 for Fennen. Eventually we told her we lost them in Florida. I forget how old she was but I don't think you have to worry yet. Worry if Harper makes it to 3 and is still wandering around with a paicifier in her mouth. Sounds crazy but I've seen it.
On the napping thing, let her cry longer. She'll either tire out and fall asleep or learn that it is quiet time in her crib.
Holden was addicted to his paci. When he was two, we cut him back to only naptime and bedtime. He would come home from daycare and say he wanted to go to bed just so he could have it. I can't stand them so when he was about 2 1/2 or almost 3, the paci fairy came down and took them all to heaven for the baby angels that didn't have any pacis. She left him some toys in exchange for his sacrifice. The end of the paci also brought the end of naptime which was sad for me.
Tough love is the only way to go with crying at naptime. We would let our kids cry for about 15 minutes before we would go get them. After a week or two, we moved it to 20 minutes. That seemed to work. I just told myself when they are old enough to talk, they won't remember that you made them cry it out!:) Good luck!
Brooke,
Love your pics of your sweet baby girl. She is so precious. Katherine LOVES her paci....and I do too!!! You will be able to reason with her when she's older to leave it in the crib when she wakes up, or the car, etc. and then eventually get rid of it completely (I'm not there yet!).
As for napping.....just keep with the trial and error! I know that's the worst advice ever. Just play with different techniques and different times and she'll be taking good naps in the crib one of these days!
Love yall!!! Go steelers!!! Q and I were talking about how excited Jared must be!
Love,
Anne
I tried to hold my daughters in my lap over Christmas, didn't work like I remember. Their head was higher than mine and their arms lapped across the back of the chair. They were so little yesterday or so it seems.
Enjoy and stick her thumb in her mouth so you don't have to keep going back and forth during the night.
Second thought, you can't put her thumb in a cute bag for the fairy to take to others.
My favorite, favorite thing about maternity leave was taking naps with Aidan. I remember counting down to the dreadful day of January 11th when I had to go back to work and leave my sweet baby in someone else's care and thinking that we would have no more afternoon naps together. So cherish these naps, who cares about the house, the yard, the emails, whatever. They can all wait. You will never get back this precious time with Harps so I say.. nap away! As long as she is sleeping at night I think you've got it made. As for the paci, she's only a few months old so isn't like the thing that babies are supposed to do?? Worry about it when she is 5 or something. -xoxo Smacks
Hi! I've been reading your blog since around the time Harper was born. I think I found it from Kelly Stamps' blog perhaps? Anyway...
The paci is seriously no big deal. No reason to worry until she's at least three years old. I have three kids. My eleven year old was a paci user. My six year old was, and is still, a thumb sucker. My six month old baby loves her paci, thank goodness! Trust me...it's a whole lot easier to get rid of the paci than their thumb!
As for the napping issues, I'm going thru the same thing. My baby girl sleeps for twelve hours each night in her crib. I lay her down awake and she goes off to sleep with no issues. During the day, however, she will only take her naps when she's snuggling with me or her daddy. She is my third so I have realized ENJOY THOSE NAP TIMES TOGETHER! She will be big far too soon and napping together will be a thing of the past.
Post a Comment