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| She looks so angelic when she is sleeping, right? |
*Yawn*
*Scratching head*
*Yawn*
Finally, it’s sleeping time again, hers, not mine.
I used to easily spent an hour or two to make her sleep, and that usually comes with a lot of struggle, frustration, and feeling of failure from my side.
It’s until after 2 weeks of being a temporary SAHM (I’m clearing my balanced maternity leave) that I finally about to make her sleep in around 30 minutes or less.
First, look for cue – she is scratching or rubbing her head/hair/ears, occasionally yawning.
Quickly bring her to her sleeping area (play pen), she will struggle and maybe wail a bit, really, just a bit.
Off all the lights in the room except the night light, play soft music to help set the mood so she catch that it’s sleeping time..
And then….
Pat her butt!
Not sure if I am the only mummy who is doing this (my mother-in-law swore by hugging and swinging her to sleep), but it works for me! No aching arms and back and the baby sleeping in 30 minutes of less!
At times I place one hand on her back as she tend to struggle while fighting against her Z-monster and I feel that this help to clam her down a bit, gently (and sometimes not so gently) patting on her butt seem to be able to smooth her (a lot!) – a theory get from the video in Pediatrician Reveals Amazing Secret to Calm Crying Babies in Just Seconds.
At times when she is really fussing I have no choice but to nurse her to sleep, but generally I find the butt-patting approach works well even during her day-time nap time.
Sometimes when I was really busy with housework, I go by the easy way out – play a youtube nursery rhymes video on a phone (place it at almost a meter away) to keep her occupied. Walk away to do my own things but going back to her play pen to peep on her every now and then. If I’m luckily, she might just fell asleep by then; else, if she seem to looks very calm and show the slightest sign of tiredness, I will slowly put the phone in such a position where she can only hear the nursery rhymes music but not the video. Usually she might fuss a while (the ‘complaint’ usually won’t be too loud as compare to times when she is really crying), but I will find a sleeping baby in the play pen when I go back to the room in 5 minutes time.
Till now, I still trying to figure out a way to make her sleep without the need to play soft music in the background, or turning off the night lights without scaring her, but I guess I still need to take a lot of trial and error in order to make this happened.
If you have any tips to share do leave me a comment so I can learn from you!
