Our infant is not an adult

My husband has some trouble sleeping.  Sometimes, he wakes up in the middle of the night and just cannot fall back asleep.  He heads downstairs, watches TV, plays guitar, and reads the paper for a few hours until he finally gets tired again and passes out on the couch.  He is 39.

Reading is exhausting

My infant son is an infant.  When he wakes up crying at, oh let's say 5:41am, it's because he was startled by something - but is actually still tired.  Because my infant son is an infant, he is still learning how to soothe himself back to sleep.  He does not have ants in his pants, insomnia, or a stressful situation going on at work.  He is an infant.

Strategy 1 for getting said infant son back to sleep:

- Enter his room very quietly

- Rock him in his bassinet

- If he's still crying, pick him up and cuddle him, rock him in the rocking chair

Victory!

Strategy 2:

- Enter his room while saying "I know, I know, I know" in your regular daytime voice

- Open the blinds

- Take him out of his bassinet

- Remove his swaddle blanket

- Unzip his sleep sack, exposing his bare skin to the cold morning air

- Turn on the lights

- Change his diaper

- Bring him into the living room to play

- Question why he didn't fall back asleep

Wha happan?

Now, I won't tell you which parent belongs to which strategy, I'll just say that one strategy appears to be more effective than the other.  I will also say that one parent has dealt with this issue almost every night for the past 6 months while the other has done it a handful of times.  And lastly, while the one parent really, truly, mega appreciates the other trying to help out and acknowledges that said partner is doing their best and all efforts come from the heart... just do it my way, ok?

Love you, honey!

Comments

[Lovely Bunny]

That photo with the hat is the best thing that happened anywhere ever.