SaraLittlejohn.com: Habits Are Hard to Break

When Anderson was born on March 18th, 2009 we had a 5 year old, 3 year old, and a 21 month year old. *sigh* What were we thinking? It was an insane time in our lives. When you are this outnumbered you cannot have too many expectations or goals, let's be totally honest here you are in survival mode, and the goals you do have have to be minimal. We had one main goal that set the tone for everything else in our house; SLEEP!! Lots and lots of sleep; nap times, early bed times, more naps, etc..etc.. Every sleep training technique was 100% selfishly motivated, we wanted sleep and we wanted to minimize the frequency and intensity of melt downs. Therefore, we have been super lenient when it comes to sleep crutches (i.e. pacifiers, thumb sucking, blankets, sleeping on bellies *gasp by the APA* white noise, etc) We figured if you are in your own bed (because this Mama does not share her bed with anyone except Daddy) and you are asleep, hallelujah!! Bless the crutches that got you there. And not only bless the crutches, but do not mess with the crutches. My brother-in-law says it so well, "Do not mess with good!"

Oh, we've paid for it; we've looked for blankets for thirty minutes, we've hunted pacifiers in the middle of the night, we tote white noise machines every where we go, but we all make the beds we lie in and the more time I get in THAT bed the happier I am to oblige. But I am no fool, I know all good things must come to an end. Remember last year when flew pacifiers to the moon? Last week Lucy threw her baby blanket in the trash because it was in pieces, we have used socks and packing tape to cover hands to stop thumb sucking, etc..etc.. I just wish I could tell the me 9 (almost 10 *SOB*) years ago to worry less about those habits, that they would in fact work themselves through. Do not hear what I am not saying, it does in fact take work to aid your children in breaking those habits, but it has been way less stressful and way smoother than I imagined it being. Especially, when I stopped worrying about it. Each parents willingness to put up with those crutches and its effects is totally unique to each family. While some parents would NEVER let their children sleep on their bellies, I happily did. While some parents LOVE co-sleeping, Mark and I didn't. While some people never introduced the pacifier, I was begging the nurses for it on day two with Katie.

So for all you parents out there googling, "How to break the habit of____________" Just take a deep breath and remember what my dad always says, "if they are still doing it at twelve, call the doctor". And for heaven's sake, find a way to get some more sleep! ;)

Happy sleeping!
~Sara

Julia on her belly