Wednesday, June 03, 2009

I Will Never Win NIght Time Parenting Awards

I have written about how my boys are roosters many times.
They get up at the crack of dawn, they are hard to put to sleep and wake up in the night screaming "CUUUPPP OF MILLLLLK" or "WAAAAAAAAAH" way too often. I, like most every parent, hate the night time wails, I just can't deal. I am a terrible nighttime parent, E is much better than I am but I can handle putting the kids to bed a bit better that my husband.

Baby K sleeps much better these past few weeks since I have been using your tips. I did what I used to do with the twins, we have a routine, I stick with it and put him awake in his crib. He is usually a dream to put in for a nap and slightly harder at bedtime, but not terrible.
E and I deal with the "not terrible" much differently.

I have my routine and if he cries in his crib after I put him down, well then, I just let him cry. He usually won't last more than five minutes and he is asleep.

If K cries for more than 4 minutes and E is home, he marches right up there and does whatever he has to until the baby stops crying and goes to sleep.
He can't take the crying.

It is not like I adore hearing my baby cry either but I know that it is okay for him to cry a little bit and usually by bedtime, I am done with ALL of the kids and they need to stay in bed and I need a stiff drink.
This is why E is a dream night time parent because when anyone wakes in the night crying he is usually on top of it, while I lay perfectly still and pray/beg/make deals for the crying to end on its own.

No, it never works.

Who is the better night time parent in your house?

3 comments:

  1. I am the night time parent, but not by choice. Oh, how I would love to just lay there and sleep while my husband gets up to put the boys back to sleep. In all of the 8 plus years we've had children he has not gotten up once, not once. He always uses the reason that he has to get up and go to work in the morning! "I forget taking care of our children isn't work." PLEASE!

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  2. We were both good at getting little ones down. Mine are old enough now (5, 9,12) that we say "It's time for bed" and they do it all themselves - brush teeth, put on pj's, go to bed. We do occasionally rock and read to the 5 year old, but for the most part, they get themselves into bed and then we come up later to say goodnight. If they wake in the night, my husband tends to be the better nighttime parent. He just needs less sleep than I do!

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  3. It's a toss up. I think we take turns, mostly. There are times that my husband jumps right up to take care of the baby when he cries, and other times I'm the one jumping. In the wee hours of the morning, I try to be the one jumping up only because I fall back asleep easier than my hubby does, but he's good about getting up, too, when I need the rest.

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