take two of our little experiment

We're on our second night of operation 'father nursing'. Here's a little update on last night... it sucked. Adeline is quite a persistent little girl and was easily able to wear both of us down. Robert tried desperately to get her to calm down each time she woke up (which was about 5 or 6 times depending on when you start counting), but each time she was absolutely determined to scream until he broke down and brought her to me. Each time I nursed her and she went back to sleep.

The crying is sooo hard to listen to. My mom instinct tells me to respond to her cries immediately and to calm and reassure her that she is loved and taken care of. I don't believe in letting a baby cry it out. I keep reminding myself that crying in the arms of a loving parent is not the same as crying in a crib alone (... or so the almighty Dr. Seers tells me). I don't think Adeline is feeling anxiety as she cries with Robert. I know that she adores him and feels secure with him. I think she is just down right ticked off that we are trying to change the nighttime routine that she worked so hard to train us to follow!! :)

In contrast to the overall defeat, we did have one small success. When I nursed her, I did not let her fall fully asleep and I gave her back to Robert sleepy, but awake. I really thought she would not tolerate this little switch-a-roo business, but each time Robert was able to bring her back to bed and get her back to sleep on his own. So, technically someone besides me put her to bed 5 times last night! Oh the little things that give you hope...

So here we are at the start of night #2... after our small group left, she went to sleep fairly easily around 7:30. It is now 9:44 and she's already woken up twice. Once Robert got her back to sleep, and once I went in. We may be in for a long night, but somehow we still love the little girl to pieces. Oh the joys that come with a spirited child!