Happy Monday morning! I hope everyone survived the weekend.
I am still combating a cold, but hopefully the light at the end of the tunnel is coming soon. Over the weekend, we decided to try a new tactic with Droolface.
Recently, Droolface has been waking in the middle of the night in hysterics. We have been rushing in to calm him, soothe him and hold him as he eventually calms down. The whole process took about an hour. Then tired mommy and daddy would slink back to bed and try to get back to sleep.
I don't know about you, but it is really hard for me to get back to sleep after soothing a hysterical baby. I would keep thinking I heard him, only to find him sleeping, and realize that I was the only basketcase in our house.
This weekend, after several nights of the hysterical routine, I convinced my husband to try it my way, and wait it out. He was dubious.
On Sunday night, when Droolface woke up with his usual hysterical routine in the early hours, we waited. We watched the clock, held hands and prayed he would get over it.
Six minutes.
Seriously, six minutes, that is how long it took Droolface to get over it and get back to sleep. That's nothing compared to the hour we had been spending trying to calm him!
The wait-and-see is now our preferred method.
Transitioning to cup
Have you gone through the breast to bottle to cup transition? How soon did you start?
Droolface is really interested in drinking out of a cup. He always has been. He sees his dad and I using cups, and I guess he wants to also. But how do you make the transition?
We have started giving him formula in a sippy cup. This model is a small bottle with grips for baby hands and a soft rubber tip that he can chew on or suck and get the milk.
He doesn't seem to grasp the concept. I am looking around for better sippy cups that would be more like drinking and less sucking. Anyone want to recommend a good brand?
In this endeavor, patience is also key. Not just for the parents, but for the baby. My new mantra is that baby needs to learn patience.
Once a child knows to be patient and wait for things, then the temper tantrums should cease. They might still happen, but maybe not as often.
If Droolface gets used to waiting for meals, then he won't freak out as much when he gets hungry. This will make for easier mealtimes.
How do you teach your children to be patient?
That's it for this morning's edition of Adventures in Drool. Hope you all are surviving out there in the drool trenches.
Send any tips or recommendations to: rachel@capegazette.com.
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Real Parents. Real Food. Real Fun.
Welcome to Adventures in Drool! Talking about green living, getting rid of plastics and toxic chemicals in our homes and raising happy kids on a budget. Join the conversation (www.adventuresindrool.com) and don't forget to Like us on Facebook!
Rachel Swick Mavity, author of the blog, lives with a reformed drooler (Droolface), who at age 3 loves to get muddy, drink homemade smoothies, giggle and flirt with old ladies. Her current drooler (Birdy) enjoys spitting up on work clothes and leaving drool trails as a way of showing her love.
Mavity previously worked as a journalist for seven years at newspapers from Pennsylvania to Maryland and Delaware. In Sussex County she worked for several newspapers, including the Cape Gazette. She lives in Lewes with her husband, Ryan Mavity, their son, "Droolface," and daughter, "Birdy."
