Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Sleeping Vs. Bonding

At this stage of the game most of the issues revolve around sleep, I've found. Or, lackthereof for baby and mama.

My little bug was sleeping super well, which got me spoiled. Then, she devolved into cries at least three to four times a night. Mainly, she wants her binky - and I've become the personal assistant to insert said binky. That's despite the fact that the binky resides .5 millimeters away from her face, which is turned in the direction of said binky.

Anyway, the doc says we need to let her try to soothe herself back to sleep. That means letting her cry for five minutes, then going in and giving her the binky. The next time we give it seven minutes, the next time 10, etc.

So this got me thinking - what's the best for my little cupcake? Should she know that I'll always be there for her, even if it means putting the binky back in her mouth? I'm envisioning a call from college and jumping in the car here.

Or, is it better for her to learn to be independent at 6 months old so she can sleep well on her own? As a mother, I'm conflicted. Will this damage our bond? Will she learn a lesson I'm not so willing to teach - that she can't always rely on her parents?

Ugh. Common sense tells me she won't remember any of this (the first-time mom's one saving grace) and that if we only do this for a few minutes at a time it won't damage our bond beyond repair. But listening to my sweet little baby's cries during the night might damage mom beyond repair - we'll have to wait and see.

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