I go back and forth on this as hormones dictate, but right now I have to admit to being so delighted to be baby free. Don't get me wrong, I think yours are completely delicious, and I want to eat them. I just don't want one of my own anymore. Every day I am gaining in freedom and sanity, and enjoying the independence of my kids and the new things we can do together as a family at this stage.
But perhaps the main thing which makes me think I am over the baby stage for real, is remembering the sleep issues. They were profound in my house. I could never let my babies cry. Consequently I spent about 9 straight years being incredibly sleep deprived. I needed sleep, my husband needed sleep, my babies needed sleep and everyone around us needed us all to sleep because we were getting more crazy and weird every day. (I used to be quite normal). But I could not figure out how to get them to sleep without letting them cry, and I was just not wired to be able to tolerate the sound of my baby's wails. Oh how I wish I'd had access to these books during those very tired years.
By mentioning them here, I may have the opportunity to give one of my readers an autographed set of these books by bestselling author Elizabeth Pantley who wrote the famous "No-cry Sleep solution". If you win, your prize will include an autographed copy of all of the following books:
The No-Cry Nap Solution *NEW*
The No-Cry Sleep Solution
The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers & Preschoolers
The No-Cry Potty Training Solution
The No-Cry Discipline Solution
More about the No-Cry Nap solution:Will your child only nap in your arms, in a swing, or after elaborate rituals? Does your child take cat naps -- or none at all? Let world-renowned, trusted parenting author Elizabeth Pantley help you. She’ll guide you with the same sensitive expertise and gentle approach used in her other No-Cry bestsellers about sleep, discipline and potty training.
Research proves that daily naps improve health, mood, growth, intelligence and well-being. Yet children often resist the naps they need and parents don’t know how to make them happen. The results are fussy, crying babies and cranky, grouchy kids who also have trouble sleeping at night!
In The No-Cry Nap Solution Pantley explains to parents of children ages newborn to kindergarten the importance of napping to both behavior during the day and sleeping during (and through!) the night. She then shares with you her gentle, loving child-friendly techniques--tested on families of all sizes and circumstances--and shows you how you can customize her solutions for your own family.
Pantley addresses issues such as children who resist naps, dealing with schedule changes, turning short naps into longer ones, helping a child go from needing motion for sleep to “stationery” sleep, nursing at naptime, daycare-related napping problems, newborn “in-arms” or “in-sling” napping issues, and much more.
The No-Cry Nap Solution: Guaranteed Gentle Ways to Solve All Your Naptime ProblemsForeword by Tim Seldin, President, The Montessori Foundation; Chair, International Montessori Council
Introduction by Meir H. Kryger, MD, Chairman of the National Sleep Foundation.
If you want to qualify for this prize, leave a comment below this post before February 25th,2009. If I am chosen by Elizabeth(fxfx), I will then draw one of the comments here, and if that comment is yours, you will be the most fortunate beneficiary of this magnificent library of No -Cry books- sure to solve your every parenting dilemma. Wow!
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7 comments:
This giveaway is the answer to my prayers!!! Our little one naps just fine at daycare, but refuses at home. I'm at my wits end!! Help!!!
Wow so there is an end to all this late night, no sleep stuff that comes with kids?? I can't wait to have children that are a little more independant!!
Pick me, pick me! ;-)
We could definitely do with a little less cry around here!!
I think you are very noble to be offering this help to other sufferers. As you say, where were the bookes when we needed them? If you could send me a book on how to get the dog to sleep through huge electric storms, I would be grateful. It is like back to the baby stage for me. I am doing a lot of filing in the wee hours of the morning! He digs the study, as long as it includes me!
Thankfully I was going through my starred blog posts in google reader just in time to enter (I star things if I don't have time to give them the attention they deserve at that time--I just re-read your blog entry on pain and being nice to old people too... good reminder!).
Did I tell you how I added pregnancy books that a friend had recommended for if/when the time comes to my amazon wishlist about a year ago, and then I got an excited phone call from my mom who happened to see my list and thought I was pregnant? Shame man. Anyway, just for the record, if I won these books, they'd be for a future, not current, need!
What a fabulous prize! I have a 3 week old at home right now and he does not sleep at night. He does ok during the day but not at night. I stay up til 6 am watching infomercials (I swear I know all the exercise moves by heart now and I no longer need ot spend 3 payments of $39.95 to buy them!) so as not to keep my husband up all night as he has to wrok. I am so tired that I am putting milk in the cabinets, garbage in the sink and silverware in the garbage. I am going a little batty. :P Last night my husband told me to let him cry and he will stop and go to sleep. I lay in bed with the baby in the bassinet next to me, wailing. I was so sad and I wanted to cry. I started to get up a couple times and my husband would scold me and say "no, leave him be" I finally could not take it anymore after 30 minutes of this and I told my husband the baby needed to eat and I grabbed my baby and brought him to the living room and searched for a good infomercial to watch. I can not let this baby cry. It breaks my heart but.... I need sleep before I do something else crazy. :)
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