Bedtime is so hard!!!

As featured in Mamiverse!  

 

When I'm home by myself to put the girls to bed, I cannot begin to express just how challenging it is. Seriously, it seems impossible. 

The main issue right now is that Annabelle, my newborn, is simply refusing to lie anywhere peacefully (unless she's asleep) anytime after 11am. Before then, she can tolerate a few minutes on her play mat or in the swing but, in the afternoon, she demands to be held or rocked or nursed or worn in a carrier. That's pretty much fine (Emma, my toddler, went through that phase too except it was worse) except when it comes to bedtime! 

I suppose it's my own fault for making both girls have the same bedtime but, honestly, I didn't create their bedtimes, they did! I follow their cues and know that they go down easiest, sleep best, and wake up later when they go to bed between 6 and 7pm. It just so happens that they're usually both anxious to go to sleep at the exact same time each night. Oy!

Most of the time, my husband Ryan is around to put Emma to bed while I put Anna down. This works out great when they both go to bed easily. Sometimes Emma requires multiple "goodnights" from Mommy even if Daddy is the one putting her to bed. Annabelle will sometimes need to be jostled for a while or lay on her tummy on Daddy's chest before finally snoozing peacefully.

 

When I'm by myself, however, bedtime is an almost impossible task. Since Anna will not lie down quietly somewhere, I get her ready and nurse her to sleep first. During this time, Emma is usually watching television, eating what's left of her dinner, or playing quietly... until she's not...

Without fail, she comes storming into the bedroom, climbing on top of me, yelling something about "more please" or "daddy-daddy?" or "night-night". This, of course, wakes Annabelle at which time I must walk Emmaline back to the living room or wherever she came from, refocus her on her quiet activity, remind her that I'll be done soon and she has to be quiet, and return to Annabelle to get her back to sleep... again...

Not exaggerating, this happens at least twice, usually three times. It's a nightmare.

At some point, I have to give up on Annabelle and leave her to cry for the five minutes it takes me to get Emma to bed. Seven on a rough night. Not joking, I have an angelic child when it comes to going down for the night when it's just me. Emmaline is a dream for mommy. She usually asks to be nursed and, when it's just me at home, I'll agree to nurse her for five minutes and then she goes right to sleep. If Anna wasn't crying in the next room, I wouldn't put a time limit on nursing my toddler but since there's a screaming newborn involved, we have to set limits. After a reminder at 2 minutes and 1 minute remaining, she usually lets go and says, "all done" at which point I hold her to give her one last hug before setting her in her crib. I give her her "peanut" (it's a lovey from my mother in law) and her blanket (knit by my mother), tell her to close her eyes and go to sleep and that I'll see her in the morning and I love her so much. I close the door on my way out and that's it. She's amazing.

Then, I have to go back to the newborn...

Annabelle has struggled to settle for a while and getting her to sleep at night usually means swaddling, white noise, patting, and nursing all at the same time. Sometimes for over an hour. It's exhausting for all of us. I'm ready for this stage to be over.

As I write this, I have been working with Annabelle to get her down on and off for an hour and a half. She's quiet now but we'll see if she's not fussing for me to come back in a minute or two...

And...  she's up... not joking... off I go!