shake it up baby

About two weeks ago, Chris and I decided that it was time to tinker with Madeline's bedtime routine.  I had to go to an evening seminar (ironically, on infant sleep), and I would have to head out before Madeline's bedtime.  This necessitated an end to my solo act of putting her to bed. Having Chris involved in bedtime was long-overdue. The routine had been "change diaper, put on jammies, put on sleepsack, read stores, nurse, bed", but having the feeding be the last thing before putting Madeline in her crib made it hard for Chris to be able to replace me.  The routine we've been working on goes more like "clean diaper, jammies, nurse, sleepsack, stories, bed" and Madeline is still a little unhappy about it, but she's coming around. I know that this abrupt change really amounts to dabbling in crying-it-out territory. It's taken us many months to get comfortable with the idea, considering that we started out co-sleeping and attending unfailingly to Madeline's requests for food and/or company, but it's interesting how our perceptions evolve as we continue to grow as family unit. It's important that Chris be involved in putting Madeline to bed.  We know that Madeline can fall asleep without being held and nursed. Of course, if I were her, I'd be protesting this change as well.   

P.S. One interesting thing - she is much more attentive to her bedtime stories when her dad reads them!

Comments

[julie]

I am sure that she likes Chris's stories better because he makes funny noises and funny voices... Or maybe she just likes Daddy better than you? OOXX