Separation anxiety or how the Davis Family has become hermits...

The Bug's 6 month well baby was yesterday.  We went to a different pediatrician this time.  He was in the same practice but not our normal ped. who we LOVE.  This is mostly, okay ALL, my fault because her doctor fills up appt-wise pretty fast and I pretty much jacked around and didn't schedule her in time.  Oops.

The Bug is now a whopping 16 lbs 14 oz and the nurse mismeasured her at 25 1/4 inches (she's longer than that).  Healthy and hitting all her developmental milestones - even got the comment that they've never seen a baby at her age sit up on their own so well.  Of course, it's because she's all sorts of brilliant and awesome.

The Dr. opened up with conversation asking if there was anything we needed to talk about.  We bring up the fact that she won't nap and panics whenever either of us leave the room.  We said we've tried crying it out but she won't give in and nap and looks SUPER panicky whenever we go in and check on her.  After all our description, he said she has an extreme case of separation anxiety and that you don't normally see it in children her age.  He also said he has no solution and that she'll likely outgrow it. 

So, until Bug gets over this and actually naps, we are officially stuck at home in the evenings and on the weekends.  I am not going to force my overtired and loudly cranky child on the unsuspecting public.  It's the hermit life for us for now - if we don't all go crazy from the cabin fever first.

To sleep or not to sleep

The Bug has chosen to sleep!

After a week of fighting us tooth and nail at naptime and during the night, she FINALLY went down Saturday night and slept all night.  And in her crib, nonetheless!

And!  She took two (!!!!!) naps in her crib on Sunday!

Maybe she's turned a new leaf?  Not sure, but I think I like this.  The dark circles and bags are slowly fading away on her face.  She's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay happier and so are we.

Let's hope it continues.

Still screaming...

No seriously.  The Bug is still screaming.  We'll put her down in the crib and she will literally scream at the top of her lungs for an hour or more.  Each time.  And then not nap.  I swear the neighbors can hear her and are going to call CPS on us one of these days...

Obviously, our sleep training is still an uphill battle.  I'll admit it - I'm jealous of parents who tell me their child is either a) an excellent sleeper (freaking overachievers) or b) screamed for only 30 minutes the first night and then considerably less the following nights.  But if we're putting her down for a nap 3 times a day and she screams for an hour each time and has done this for a week, maybe something's wrong?  For some reason, my child feels abandoned when we put her down for a nap.

Going to sleep at night isn't as much of an issue.  She'll pass out, but it's the 15 crying wake up calls during the course of the night that are killing us.  We're needing some patience big time because we're both exhausted and snippy.  I feel like we should be on an episode of Super Nanny...

Today in an act of desperation, we put the pad from the pack n play where she's been living in her crib.  Oddly enough, she's currently laying quietly in her crib.  Please continue to work.  Please continue to work...

And now she's crying again.  CRAP.

Ferberizing Day 1 - EPIC FAIL

Is it too soon to quit Ferberizing already?  Exhaustion didn't matter to the Bug and she screamed a full hour before I got home from work.  My husband handed her over instantly - all 17ish pounds of dark circles, baggy red-rimmed eyes and hoarse voice.  Nighttime wasn't much better - she woke up at 2 and struggled for about 2 hours to go back to sleep.

Now I realize that this is going to take time.  I am fully aware that it can take weeks, BUT I'm not emotionally and physically prepared for a super extended battle of wills.  Bug is stubborn and I'm pretty sure she can carry on like this for a long time.  This does not bode well.  Should I be surprised?  Not hardly.  Because her mom?  Not so much of a great sleeper herself

On a positive note, I have been informed that she has managed to take at least an hour nap today.  At least it's better than nothing.

Bug Ferberization

It's official, we have a non-sleeper.  If you see the Bug, you'll likely see bags and dark circles under her eyes.  Poor kiddo, we want her to sleep SO bad, but she refuses. 

The source of her non-sleeping at night seems to be a lost pacifier (we call it a bink in our house).  She falls asleep with it in her mouth and loses it at some point during the night.  She moves, realizes it isn't there anymore and starts to panic.  We start out whimpering and then start crying.  Loudly.  This happens between 10-20 times a night.  Obviously, for this reason, we haven't moved her out of our bedroom yet, as she is currently living in a pack n play at the foot of our bed.  It would take an act of God to get me to walk across the house 20 times in the middle of the night to put the bink back in her mouth.

Recently, she's taken up a non-napping platform.  Why nap during the day when you can get increasingly tired and cranky?  Surely mommy and daddy would enjoy that...  A six month old baby needs more than a 20 minute nap a day, but evidently, it is more fun to yell and play with your toes than nap.  I would tend to disagree.

A phone call to the pediatrician mother-in-law confirmed my worst fears - it's time to let her cry it out.  I have been dreading this.  There is nothing worse than letting your child cry to you for comfort and not being there to stick the pacifier back into her mouth or give her a hug or rock her. 

Obviously, because I can't emotionally separate myself from this, we have decided that I will not be in charge of Bug's Ferberization.  I look forward to the day when my daughter can comfort herself enough to put herself down for a nap or to bed for the night, but I am not looking forward to the assumingly loud weeks ahead.  Let's hope she's a fast learner...

Necessity is the mother of all invention

It is crazy ridiculous hot here in Houston.  Like 100 degrees and humid hot.  Yuck.  Yesterday, it was so hot that we decided to let the Bug splash around in a pool to cool off.  Except we don't have a pool.  And I'm a crazy overprotective mother and refuse to let her get into the subdivision pool yet.  I'm okay with the idea of a private pool, but super duper wary of public pools.  


I searched around the house and all I could find was an inflatable duck bathtub.  Figuring it was better than nothing, we stripped her down and put her in a swimsuit.  Not just any swimsuit, it's literally an itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini.  We took the tub out to a shaded portion of the backyard, tossed a few tub toys in there, plopped her down and filled it up.


She had a blast and unless you knew better, you would have never figured out it was a bathtub :)