Hello!
This is my first visit...., I have read the baby whisperer book and have used many techniques from it, but I really have no clue how to teach my 18th month old baby girl to go to sleep without her grabbing my ears. (Please excuse my english since it´s not my first language).
As I was saying, this is a habit she is being doing for a long time, so I guess its not gonna be easy to change it. This was our night routine until 5 days ago: I gave her a bath (which she likes very much) and explained to her we were getting ready for bed, then we put on the pjs, we sat at the rocking chair to drink her last bottle of the day and as soon as she finished her bottle, she grabbed both my ears and squeezed them until she fell sleep, it could take from 15 to 30 min. (as you can imagine this was very uncomfortable for me) then when she fell asleep, I put her on her crib and she stayed there aprox 1 hour, but after that she woke up repeatedly searching for my ears, so I had to go back and sit down at the rocking chair and do it all over again. I recently hurt my back because she weights 29 pounds and the matress of the crib is very low, so I decided it was time for her to let go off my ears and learn to go to sleep by herself, so I quit the rocking chair, which has not being a problem, she does not miss it at all.
When she is ready for bed I put her directly in her crib and I give her the bottle of milk, which she sometimes doesn´t finish (I think she doesn´t like that much) and I say to her: Valeria its time to sleep, I will turn down the lights and you will lay down on your pillow and will sleep with Patete (she named her doll Patete) and she seems fine with it but as soon as the lights go off, the story begins.... even though I put a twin bed next to the crib so she can grab my hand instead of my ears, thinking that its too heart breaking for her to quit the physical contact all at once. I was thinking that after she settles with my hand I can start moving the bed towards the door and quit the physical contact.
I have being doint this new routine for 5 days now and it is very frustating because she cries so much. After I put her in the crib, I lay down quietly in the bed next to her and she bends over to reach my ears but she cannot reach them so she cries and cries and seems so terrified. Finally after she has screamed for about 15 minutes I stand next to her crib and calm her down and explain to her that its time to sleep and that she has to sleep on her crib by herself and that I will stay next to her, but nothing seems to calm her down, (I was giving her some water but then I though maybe she will get used to it and that will be another problem). So, she is suffering it so much, it breaks my heart and finally I bend over next to the crib and she falls sleep standing up on the crib and holding my ear (at least she does not falls sleep in the rocking chair. Is this a start?) Then I put her down on the matress, but she realizes she does not have my ear on her hand so she stands up again and it goes on an on until she gets so tired and gives up, but by this point she has cried too much. Also, she wakes up in the middle of the nigh and do the same.
What can I do to make it more easy on her?? I am trying to get her excited about her doll sleeping with her but nothing seems to make her happier than my ears.... it´s the same story at nap time.
Please help!!!
