Natalie’s Blog

Getting Natalie to sleep is still a project. She’s not the type of baby we can put in the crib when it’s bedtime and expect her to go to sleep by herself. Most nights I nurse her to sleep, sometimes I nurse and then Chris walks her. Even when she falls asleep nursing, I cannot unlatch her. Sometimes she will sleep sort of half-nursing for a long time until she finally relaxes enough to open her mouth.

Not only does she need to be put to sleep, but she must be in a DEEP sleep before we can put her down. If she’s only in a light sleep, she will wake up and cry the second her body hits the mattress. She must be laid down ever so gently, then we have to practically lay on top of her for a few moments before slowly pulling our arms out from under her. This whole process makes transferring her into a crib impossible. So for a while she was sleeping on our mattress; just this week we put her mattress on the floor next to ours.

On a good night (rare) this whole process takes 10 minutes. On a really bad night, it can take up to an hour and a half. Usually it’s about half an hour. Every night I remind myself to be patient and not try to unlatch her or put her down before she’s ready. And every night I get impatient at some point, try to speed up the process by doing one of those things. This makes Natalie cry and take even longer to fall asleep. Then I chastise myself and think that if I were more patient, the whole affair would be easier and take less time. Finally, I vow that the next night, I won’t try to rush it.

I was getting upset and frustrated by all of this—about how long it took Natalie to go to sleep, but more so by how impatient I was. Chris, being more patient than I, was 100% more successful than me in terms of not putting her down until she was completely asleep, which didn’t make me feel any better. I did a lot of soul searching about why I couldn’t just enjoy some quiet time with Natalie before bed. I questioned over and over what my hurry was and why I was impatient when I know I have the ability to be very patient in other situations.

Last Tuesday, I figured it out. The rocking chair I nurse Natalie in is really. really. UNCOMFORTABLE!!! I’m not sure how it escaped me, but it finally dawned on me that my butt hurt, my back was killing me, my legs ached and my neck was like a ball of knots. Duh! I’m not impatient, I was just in pain! No wonder I couldn’t wait for Natalie to fall asleep.

The rocking chair was inherited from my mom, who inherited it from her great-aunt Ida (I think). I was very excited about rocking Natalie to sleep in the same chair that my mom rocked me to sleep in. Not only did they give us the chair, but Mom and Smoky very generously took it to a “furniture doctor” to be fixed up before Natalie was born. That’s all very sweet in theory, but I’m not so sentimental that I’ll continue to sit in an uncomfortable chair.

So we decided to buy a glider and ottoman. I’ve used it two nights now and getting Natalie to sleep has been a breeze. It doesn’t necessarily take less time, but I’m happy to sit with her as long as it takes. It’s so comfortable that I can relax, put my feet up and lean my head back, neither of which I could do in the rocking chair. Last night I actually fell asleep too! I have no doubt that Natalie was picking up on my tension, making it harder for her to fall sleep, and now that she feels I’m relaxed, it’s easier for her to peacefully drift off.

Now I’m kicking myself for not getting one sooner. There are other benefits to the glider besides my own comfort. One, it doesn’t make the floor boards squeak when it rocks. Two, it has padded arm rests, so I don’t have to pick up or adjust a blanket every few minutes to make sure that Natalie doesn’t hit her head on the wooden arms. And three, it doesn’t make terrible squeaks and cracks when I stand up, making a much smoother transition from the chair to the mattress.

What a relief!

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 13th, 2007 at 11:12 pm and is filed under Challenges. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.