Since We've Been Home

Mila as a Big Sister
We keep getting asked how Mila is doing now that she's a big sister, so I thought I'd blog about it as well. She's doing great. Mila looooves Emmy. She asks about her when she wakes up in the morning, "Emmy?" and she loves to watch her flail her arms about. When Emmy cries, Mila gets worried and comes running - "Emmy esta llorando!" ("Emmy is crying!") Sometimes, when Emmy cries, she panics - it's actually pretty funny - she goes up to her and starts blowing on her, as if she's hot! It's hilarious! She's also noticed that we try to soothe Emmy by saying, "Ya, ya Emmy... Ya, ya..." (Kinda like saying, "It's ok, Emmy, it's ok...") So if we're in the car and she sees her crying, she says, "Ya, ya Emmy... Ya, ya..." It's so funny to hear her. Cracks us up!

So on that note, Mila's been doing great. I had such fears that Mila would be upset or that there would be jealousy, but no, she's been awesome!

Emmy and Sleeping

Emmy has been just wonderful. Since we're co-sleeping, it's so much easier to get up during the night feedings. She sleeps in her crib until she wakes up for a feeding and then I just throw her into bed with us and slap her on the boob and go back to sleep with her cuddled up next to us. So we end up co-sleeping only part of the night but WHAT A DIFFERENCE! Seriously - it's the BEST decision we ever made. Jorge and I sleep so much better this time around than we did with Mila when Mila was this age. No more forcing myself to get up to nurse, wait til she falls asleep and then carefully trying to put her back into bed - only for her to wake up the second I let go. This time, it's been just wonderful.

A friend that also co-sleeps sent me another interesting article:
Co-sleeping and Biological Imperatives: Why Human Babies Do Not and Should Not Sleep Alone
http://neuroanthropology.net/2008/12/21/cosleeping-and-biological-imperatives-why-human-babies-do-not-and-should-not-sleep-alone/

Mila and Sleeping

However. Yes, there's a "however" here. We totally didn't expect for this to be an issue... and suddenly it's now our most biggest stress ever. Where we would have been having trouble from Emmy, we are having serious trouble with Mila. She is refusing to nap. She's refusing to go to sleep. Where before Emmy was born, I could go put Mila in her crib and lay down in the bed next to her for 5 minutes and then say goodnight, walk out and she'd happily play in the crib until she fell asleep - now... it's crying for 3 HOURS STRAIGHT because she wants to be picked up HELD to sleep. It's an absolute nightmare.

Our theory is, we left Mila at home with Abuelita and Tia Yaya all of a sudden. She didn't get a chance to say goodbye. We just suddenly left before she woke up one day - and then we were gone for 2 days straight! We think maybe it was too much for her and now she thinks we'll leave if she falls asleep. She will cry inconsolably - and we're right there in the room next to her! Ahhhh! It had taken us so long to get this perfect nap/sleep routine with her and now it's absolutely ruined! We don't know what to do - it's like she wants to either be held in our arms or she wants to hold my hand (or Jorge's hand) as she falls asleep... and even THAT has still been with lots of tears!! Like screaming as if it's the end of the world type of crying... truly heartbreaking. For every nap and bedtime. It's hours of torture. The first couple of nights she was so bad that she just cried right through her ENTIRE naptime. And she'll refuse to nap so much - that she'll stay standing up in the corner of the crib waiting for us to get her and eventually she starts to calm down because she's so tired - that she'll even try to sleep standing up. Oh my goodness! And we're right there next to her crib this whole time, it's not like we've left the room!!! TORTURE!! We've been up for hours with this craziness!!! Not to mention we also have a newborn to take care of!

It's been 13 days since we've been home it's been slooooowly getting a teensy bit better since that first day. At least Mila will eventually fall asleep, but it's still very, very difficult. 

We are so desperate with this lack of sleep we ordered Supernanny's book, "How to get the best from your children" and it covers toddlers and bedtime. It just arrived this evening but I've been devouring it while Emmy nurses - we need to implement something asap! The book suggests that if she wakes up during the night, you could try the "Controlled Crying Technique" - it's mentioned on the Supernanny site here: http://www.supernanny.co.uk/Advice/-/Parenting-Skills/-/Routine-and-Teamwork/Controlled-Crying.aspx ... if she's able to get up and out of bed, you can try the "Staying In Bed Technique" mentioned here: http://www.supernanny.co.uk/Advice/-/Parenting-Skills/-/Routine-and-Teamwork/Getting-Toddlers-to-Stay-in-Bed.aspx ... and here's a clip of it in action: http://www.supernanny.co.uk/TV-Show/Clips/Clips/Stay-in-Bed-Technique.aspx

We're going to give this a shot... wish us luck!!!