Bedtime antics, continued.

I think she's one step ahead of us...let me explain.

Yesterday was one of those 'I think I'm a bad parent' days after she spent two straight hours of crying/yelling/screaming/fussing in lieu of taking a nap. Nothing could entertain, distract, or calm her. Needless to say, at the end of those two hours my nerves were shot and I can honestly say she wasn't my favorite person in the world at that moment. Yet, still madly in love with her.

Anyway, V and I decided to implement a more structured, tough love bedtime routine that was going to include increasing 'cry it out' intervals starting at 2 minutes, three minutes, etc. I was stressing out all yesterday afternoon and evening preparing for the coming bedtime battle. So, here's how we planned our bedtime routine that we intend to use every night.
7:45 - bath
8:00 - final bottle (based on her historic schedule)
8:20 - story and prayers
8:30 - bed, and if refuses to clam down go in at 2 minutes to console and calm, but not pick up or take out of room.

What a great plan! :-)

Here's how the night went:
7:45 - pleasant, uneventful bath.
8:00 - daddy fed her a bottle, drank 6 ounces (normal)
8:20 - fell sound asleep on daddy's shoulder while being burped, didn't wake until 6:30 this morning.

So much for all that time stressing for the battle!

Tonight, planned the same routine.

She started fussing for a bottle about an hour earlier than normal, tried to entertain/distract but ended up feeding her at 7:00 PM. She fell asleep in her rocker and simply was out. I finally put her in her crib, fully clothed, at 9:00. Not a peep since.

I think she knows we want to put her on a schedule, but she wants to do bedtime on her own terms? What a clever little girl.

Or, it might be the 2-3 hour walks we took yesterday and today that knocked her out. Who knows. I'm grateful for two nights of hassle-free bedtime!