This post is dedicated to Emily and sweet baby Eli, and all other babies with very particular bed time routines.
The key to James' bedtime is how you rock him to sleep. He has never much cared for the cradle hold that most babies adore. Nope, not my little man. For the first 4 months he loved to be held over your shoulder and he would rest his sweet little head on my right shoulder as I rocked him. Lately he has been getting so tall that his feet are really kicking my legs, so this is no longer the position of choice. For now he sits in my lap in a semi-reclined position.
1. Confirm that he has had his evening snack and has a clean diaper. Do not skip this step! A hungry baby James will wake up sometime mid-morning expecting an early breakfast.
2. Assume the proper rocking position with sweet baby.
3. Rock slowly and sing a little lullaby. Any song will do, he likes them all.
4. His breathing will start to slow which is the first sign that he is falling asleep. To be sure do the arm test which consists of lifting up one arm and dropping it. If he is asleep this will not startle him. If he is still awake, you may need to sing that lullaby a few more times.
5. Once asleep, slither out of the rocking chair taking care not to bang it against the wall. This will surely startle him, and the lullaby will need another round.
6. Slowly walk towards his bed. Once you are hovering over the mattress flip him from his back onto his tummy. Strange enough this works best in mid-air.
7. Slowly lower him onto the mattress.
8. Quietly inch out of the dark room and hope that you don't stumble on one of Zion's toys. If you do stumble, hopefully you don't knock the rocking chair into the wall. (if so start back at step 5)
9. Close the door and turn on the fan outside his room.
10. Breath a sign of relief and know that he will sleep for at least 10-12 hours.
Sleep is a beautiful thing!
5 comments:
Although I didn't get to put her down for a nap very often, Little Baby Abigail liked being rocked over your shoulder while you rubbed her back. In return she would rub your arm until she fell asleep. It was the sweetest thing ever! But I completely agree with the rocking chair hitting the wall thing that was always tough.
Very sweet picture of James. Loved the instruction you gave .... made me smile. Aunt Paula
I plan to watch this step by step to see how a pro puts James to bed.
Sooo funny!!!!!!! If our boys were little brothers instead of onlies for now, we would never have time to do all these steps with older siblings running around!
Sleep is a beautiful thing! Now that Ace is older we can put her in her bed and she will wave "night-night" to us - priceless. But I remember the rocking chair days. Ours would catch on the window seat, make you stumble and bump back into the chair. Back to step number 5!
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