Comments on: Little Miss Horrid

By: iMommy

iMommy — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 17:20:36 +0000

Well, I can’t say that I agree with the cry it out method, but I can say for sure that at 10 months old, Maddie definitely doesn’t know how to manipulate you or Mike. Especially something as complicated as faking an asthma attack, so don’t worry about that. The fact is that at 10 months old – 7 1/2 for her adjusted age – she’s going to be waking up several times a night. Babies at that age don’t sleep “through the night” the way that parents do — “sleeping through the night” for a child her age is likely a 4-5 hour stretch – anything more than that is very unusual. Since Maddie goes to bed so much earlier than adults, it may seem like she’s not sleeping much at all. She’s probably waking up soon after YOU get to bed! Very frustrating, I agree. We chose to work through it with our daughter more slowly – she’s 2 and waking only once at night now – with gentle reassurance and attention when she needed it. Not every method is for every family, though, so I won’t push mine on you

Anywho, don’t worry about manipulation – some things may seem like manipulation, but really she’s just communication as best she can to get what she needs – be it cuddle time, food, attention, whatever. Once she’s 2 or 3… well, then you can start to worry!

iMommys last blog post..Denial Ain’t Just a River in Egypt…

By: eddie haskell

eddie haskell — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 21:08:12 +0000

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By: Kristabella

Kristabella — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 17:09:54 +0000

I think your little girl is 10 months going on 17 years! She is too smart for her own good! Kristabellas last blog post..Bacon Crashes My Pity Party

By: Suz

Suz — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:18:19 +0000

I love your blog and this is my first comment. OK now that’s out of the way and I’m no longer a lurker, I have to say: you will sleep again. I had the same exact feelings for almost the first 18 months of my daughters life. And then by some miracle of God she not only started to fall asleep on her own but stayed sleeping for 10+ hours. It will happen. Send Mike away at bedtime!

By: Mom24@4evermom

Mom24@4evermom — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 14:40:58 +0000

I hope this won’t upset you, but I really urge you to try and turn around the way you look at Maddie and this. I have kids that are on the other end of the spectrum (grown and nearly grown, as well as little), and I have seen kids relationships with their mom’s when their mom looked at things in a similar manner. At 10 months, I do not believe that she’s doing any of this to manipulate. She’s just expressing herself the best she can. She’s been through a lot in her young life and if she needs/wants some extra cuddling, holding, attention, whatever, it’s not that much to ask. I totally relate to desperately needing sleep, but some babies just don’t sleep well. I think that’s a dirty little secret of parenthood. My oldest didn’t sleep well until he was 3 and a half. Sure, we contributed to that, but we could have done everything right and he still would not have been a good sleeper. It just wasn’t who he was. My second had a condition where she vomited easily. As she grew it was exaggerated by being upset. If she cried for a good 60 seconds, literally, she would vomit. She didn’t do it on purpose, it was the way she was built. Crying it out for her was never an option for us. When we were having sleep issues, my friends, truly trying to be helpful, would advise me she was manipulating us, just let her cry, if she vomited let her lay in it. That went against everything I believed in. I’m so glad that as I look at my beautiful girl now (she’s 16) that’s not a memory I have. We got through it, she became a beautiful sleeper, and we did it in a way where she got the comfort and security she was craving. That’s the memory I treasure. My grandson has breathing issues, I know without a doubt he doesn’t do it to get his own way. It’s just that when he’s upset, he gets physically stressed and he loses control of his breathing. In severe cases, an asthma attack follows. That’s not manipulation.

If you can try to not see what’s going on as purposeful or manipulative. If you can just steel yourself to grin and bear it and try to get through it without being resentful, your relationship down the road with Maddie will be so much better off.

I’m honestly not trying to judge you or criticize you. I truly, truly empathize with what you’re going through. But I’ve seen the path you could be on farther down the road, and I would like to spare you that. How we look at our children, how we relate to our children the patterns that we use later on truly are being created now.

Mom24@4evermoms last blog post..Voices in my head…

By: Lisa

Lisa — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 06:13:31 +0000

I didn’t know seven-month-olds ever slept through the night. Mine didn’t. Inconvenient little buggers.

By: Shania

Shania — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 02:43:18 +0000

Can you give her a breathing treatment and put her back down? Apparently the key to CIO is not interacting or engaging the child at all. So they tell me. I used benadryl. (and I AM joking, put the phone down) Shanias last blog post..Let's have a bit of humor, shall we?

By: Anissa@Hope4Peyton

Anissa@Hope4Peyton — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 02:21:37 +0000

All I saw was blah blah blah FREAKING ADORABLE CURLS blah blah blah. You got tons of advice, so I got nothing new to share, but she is just yums all around. Mine all have straight hair, so I don't know what THEIR deal is. Anissa@Hope4Peytons last blog post..I can almost hear the Metropolitan Museum of Art calling

By: anymommy

anymommy — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 00:00:34 +0000

OH! I’m sorry. I hate the sleeping through the night crack down phase. I hit the wall at about ten months with both our babies. With the first, I went from maybe possibly ageeing with the no cry it out people to ‘yeah, maybe we could let him cry for just fifteen more minutes because I MUST sleep.’ It ends. And then you get to sleep. Hope it happens fast.

By: pgoodness

pgoodness — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 22:20:27 +0000

Sleep? Please. My sons are 3 and 5 and I'm STILL waiting for the through the night phase!! On the other hand, she is so freaking adorable, even with the 'tude!! pgoodnesss last blog post..Soc(cer) it to me, baby!