Thursday, October 10, 2013

A Sleeping Toddler...Is that just a myth?

Okay so I always feel when I get the toddler down that I have achieved the ultimate success.  Its been tough on her after we moved and I have found myself comforting her by staying in her room till she falls asleep.  I can get her to sleep for naps without this routine, but she likes our ritual reading and for me to stay when she goes to bed at night.  I have found myself waking up off the floor and for some reason I don't mind.  I think its the only true quiet time I have in our small apartment.  We have a heater in her room and I'm bit of a cold blooded snake and I just gravitate towards her room.

So am I wrong?  Am I going to make her the one who is fifteen years old who can't fall asleep without someone right next to her?  I sure hope not!  I want a happy toddler and as you know, toddlers are rarely happy unless they are getting their way.  I will say that we had plenty of sleepless nights because she would crawl into bed with us.  It was not working out with nursing baby and two adults in a queen sized bed.  When we had moved we honestly couldn't find her bottle which we gave her to go to bed with.  Yes, I'm a bad mommy...usually it was water or chamomile tea and yes I regret doing the easy way when she was only 8 months old.

It was kind of great that the transition to no bottle was relatively simple, but then we had the midnight and two o'clock wakeup with her crawling into bed with us.  During the move, our daughter figured out that sleeping with mommy and daddy rocks!  The one night we went grocery shopping and she literally drank almost my entire smoothie.  However, slept the entire night in her own bed.  This made me realize she was probably hungry and not getting enough before bedtime.  So we tried a few smoothies and I am no expert at making them and ended up drinking most of it, but she still slept in her own bed the whole night.

Tonight before bed we fed her some banana and almond butter which she loves, a few baby carrots, and a slice of cheese.  It wasn't an amazing smoothie, but enough to keep her in her own bed for the entire night.  A bedtime snack I don't find entirely wrong either.  I'm sure some nutritionist will tell me I'm leading my child to a road of obesity, but one its not formula and two she still has a good 12 hours before her next meal.  When she was waking up, it was a good 14 hours or more before her next meal.  I know I can't go that long so why expect a toddler to be able to do this?