POSITIVE Parenting

In the first month of our son's life, I received many messages from friends asking me if I was exhausted from lack of sleep. My answer was, "Not really". I had got the best piece of advice while I was pregnant: keep your baby on a routine. Bad habits are formed fast, and who wants a four-year-old running around the house at 10 or 11 o'clock at night?!

Gina Ford, author of The Contented Little Baby Book, insists that babies function better with routine, and so do parents. Her aim is to have your child sleeping through the night by the time he/she is three months old. She sets out definite times for everything the baby does: feed, sleep, change, bathe, play, and so on. She even tells you, as a mother, when you should eat, express breast milk, and rest. A little crazy, you might say, but I know several moms who follow this to the letter.

No clue what to do

I decided that I would give it a go. After all, as a new parent I had absolutely no clue what I was to do with the baby throughout the day, and when I was supposed to do it! Never mind the fact that women have been bearing offspring since the beginning of the human race, and billions have managed without any literature!

From day one, I walked around with said book in hand, referring to it as often as I blinked, almost! There were sniggers from a few people, as you can imagine, but I did not care. Things were working out for us. The truth is, I understood the sentiment of Ms Ford's book, and so did not get upset when the baby didn't adhere to it precisely. He was close though, and everything was easy.

I can't remember the exact date when our boy decided he was not going to sleep during his lunchtime nap, nor when he started to wake up half an hour after going to bed for the night. These incidences just sort of happened not too long ago, and have continued since, no matter what we do. We have tried to leave him in his crib, bawling blue eye water, but he does not stop. Of course, if we go to pick him up, he's fine. He'll fall asleep again, we'll put him down, and the same occurs.

So, we've taken to putting him back in our room, to sleep in-between us. I know, I know. That's supposed to be the worst action to take, but hear me out. The little fellow will lay there giggling and 'chatting' for hours. I kid you not. I mean, how cute is that? If it's that simple to settle him and make him smile, why would I leave him crying miserably, and alone, in his cot? My husband did not believe me when I told him one evening about the day's events, until he saw it for himself late that night. "Our son chats more than you do," he said! Frightening thought.

Here we have a happy 'chappy' whose worries are immediately fixable, but our remedies go against Ms Ford's advice. On top of that, he'll sit in his bouncer seat, play on his mat, or lay under his ocean gym looking at the sea creatures which dangle above him, for longer than most babies. It's not as if he doesn't like his own company. He is consistent with when he eats, and is as predictable as the sun rising in the east every morning. However, for some reason, he has begun to insist that bedtime is for fun! No it's not. It's for sleep. The book says!

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