Everybody has part of their job that they don't like.
My job, for all intents and purposes, is to run the household and be the main caregiver for Lucas. I don't like most of my job that involves housework -- particularly cleaning the bathrooms and dusting. I like almost all of the part of my job that involves caring for Lucas -- except freaking teaching him how to sleep.
The way you can tell that I don't like this part of my job is that I simply haven't been doing it for the past five months. (Similarly, my bathrooms are generally just this side of disgusting and there is dust everywhere.) It is so much easier and infinitely more awesome to rock my son to sleep in my arms, even though he screams first and then half the time won't even let you put him in the crib so you have to sit trapped in your chair forever with just an iPhone to entertain you. Ahem. Anyway, I love love having Lucas sleep in my arms, but it's part of my job to teach him how to put himself to sleep. Otherwise, I'll soon have to turn to co-sleeping, and we're not up for that. I've read that around the six month mark is when their brain has really developed enough for them to self-soothe, so I'm starting to prepare him as we get closer to that mark. It's already taking the both of us most of the time to transfer him into his crib -- he's so big that you need three hands to support him so he doesn't flop down and wake himself up.
Sigh. So now instead of rocking him to sleep, I have to sit by the crib and shush/pat him while he cries and it's very sad. He seems to be crying about the same length and intensity that he does when I rock him in my arms, though, which is very encouraging. The next step is just shushing/singing, no patting or back rubbing, then sit further and further away until I am out of the room and he puts himself to sleep. I don't have any time limit set on when I'd like him to accomplish this -- I just need to be very patient, and commit to stop rocking him to sleep in my arms.
It makes me unspeakably sad that this part of our relationship will be over. I tear up when I think about it. But I will get almost six months' worth of memories of my baby sleeping in my arms, so that's something. Babies! Why do they always have to be growing up and shit? It sucks.
The way you can tell that I don't like this part of my job is that I simply haven't been doing it for the past five months. (Similarly, my bathrooms are generally just this side of disgusting and there is dust everywhere.) It is so much easier and infinitely more awesome to rock my son to sleep in my arms, even though he screams first and then half the time won't even let you put him in the crib so you have to sit trapped in your chair forever with just an iPhone to entertain you. Ahem. Anyway, I love love having Lucas sleep in my arms, but it's part of my job to teach him how to put himself to sleep. Otherwise, I'll soon have to turn to co-sleeping, and we're not up for that. I've read that around the six month mark is when their brain has really developed enough for them to self-soothe, so I'm starting to prepare him as we get closer to that mark. It's already taking the both of us most of the time to transfer him into his crib -- he's so big that you need three hands to support him so he doesn't flop down and wake himself up.
Sigh. So now instead of rocking him to sleep, I have to sit by the crib and shush/pat him while he cries and it's very sad. He seems to be crying about the same length and intensity that he does when I rock him in my arms, though, which is very encouraging. The next step is just shushing/singing, no patting or back rubbing, then sit further and further away until I am out of the room and he puts himself to sleep. I don't have any time limit set on when I'd like him to accomplish this -- I just need to be very patient, and commit to stop rocking him to sleep in my arms.
It makes me unspeakably sad that this part of our relationship will be over. I tear up when I think about it. But I will get almost six months' worth of memories of my baby sleeping in my arms, so that's something. Babies! Why do they always have to be growing up and shit? It sucks.