I Hate This Part

With a newborn, you can pretty much be assured that when they cry they need something - diaper change, to be fed, rocked to sleep, etc. Now, it's not to say that older infants don't need to be held, but there comes a point where they......figure out the game.

It's bed time. I go through the whole routine, put her down, turn out the lights, and pray for silence. Nope, nope, nope - crying. She's changed, fed, and should otherwise be happy, but nope.

The internal debate begins.

What do I do? Do I give her a few minutes to figure her life out? Do I run in there? What if she's hurt? What if she's scared? What if she managed to squirm out of her sleeper and wrap it around her face in the 30 seconds since I left the room?!?!

Then I walk in there, she's all, "Oh hey, fancy meeting you here. Wanna play?"

Tricked again.

Ginny is at the crossroads of attachment anxiety and teething, with a dash of "even I don't know why I'm crying!" It's a barrel of fun. Don't get me wrong - when my baby cries, I go to her. I would love, however, for her to learn to put herself back to sleep a little better. We've started reading up on sleep training, but can't seem to take the plunge on anything because her teeth are coming in so rapid fire and she's almost always in pain. She cut her first tooth about 6 weeks ago and has since cut a total of 5 - including both big top teeth. Ouch.

Last night, J was up rocking her for longer than he actually slept. The night before last, I was up with her for a while, then finally just nursed her in bed - leading to me getting punched in the face every 30 seconds while she ate. It's been a little rough around here.

For now, it is just easier to rock her back to sleep or nurse her to sleep than to help her learn to sleep better - especially when we don't know whether the crying is from teething or just being stubborn. It'll come - it has to, but in the meantime....::yawn::