Continuing with our particular series of entries about high demand babies We arrived at the time of daytime sleep, better known as “naps,” a word that fathers and moms remember for watching our children sleep and not precisely for sleeping them (how good a little nap would sit at noon and how many years ago it is not done… ).
In the previous post, in which we talked about strollers, it was clear that high-demand babies are burned by the stroller. They cannot fall asleep in it because they hardly spend time in it when they are awake. Well, the stroller is not the only place where they don't want to spend too much time.
The cradle, like the stroller
The same thing happens with the cradle. Leaving him awake is unthinkable (come on, the first time is the same for a little while, the second time he will hold on if the cell phone is spinning, but the third time he will say "enough") and, even if he stayed, he probably wouldn't sleep.
Leaving him asleep is the other option. Once asleep, you put it carefully in the crib so that it does not find out and the countdown begins. I do not know how long the babies are as a rule, although I can say that some mothers explain that they sleep for three quarters of an hour, others tell you that it is more than two hours and before such accumulation of minutes you feel that your child will never beat a record ( or maybe yes, that of “the fastest sistero”), since he rarely sleeps more than twenty minutes without waking up.
Then you think about the time you spent choosing the crib (and you add it to the time you spent looking at strollers), the sheets with teddy bears, those that smile and look so playful, those sheets that inspire you with tenderness when you imagine your baby covered with them and the protections with the same pattern, padded so that, if you touch a moved baby, do not hurt with the bars.
And a good day your mother arrives, or your mother-in-law, or whoever tells you to "come, I give you the cradle" and the cradle comes to mind
to which you had already looked at it and one day you choose the corner of the room that you have painted and decorated for your baby in which the crib will go and imagine the moments when you approach your sleeping son in the daylight to see him breathe, move an eyebrow, an arm, smile and even suck in a vacuum and you see yourself smiling with happiness and overflowing love for all the pores. Come on, like in the movies.
But soon you realize, when your baby is already with you, that the naps in the crib are very short, that he immediately groans, complains and cries and that you spend more time taking it, sleeping it and leaving it again than the one he spends sleeping.
And so one day you decide that it is over, that you keep it in your arms and that you will wake up and observe, stunned, that the 15-20 minute nap, or the 60 minutes split in 4 naps they become a single nap of more than an hour and even two.
Mom, with you at the end of the world
This is the message: “Without you I don't live, without you I don't sleep, without you I don't dare. But alas! Mom, if it's with you. With you until the end of the world".
And the message extends to dad, because for some strange reason dad's shoulder is one of the best baby headrests and, once asleep, dad's arms work just as well as mom's.
Smell, heat and safety
And why do I sleep in my arms for more than an hour if I can't stand almost anything in the crib? Many parents will ask. Because the cradle is nobody, it is just a padded surface that guides you to limited views. Over the roof, on the sides and on the north bottom, the bear protections and the south bottom, I'm afraid it is too far away.
But nevertheless dad and mom's arms are much more versatile. They adapt more to the body, they wrap it, they hold it firmly but tenderly, they bring the baby closer to their body, which smells like dad and smells like mom, to the heat they give off, they listen to their parents breathing and they definitely bring what Most babies crave and need: security.
In the arms of dad and mom there are no dangers, there are no goblins, monsters or wolves and although there are, there is no fear. Like the soldier who takes refuge behind the doors of his castle, like the persecuted child who touches the wall and shouts “home!”, Like lowering the blinds at dusk, closing the house door with a key and turning on dim lights .
Even when?
When a baby takes a nap of one or two hours, his mother or father has an hour or two to disconnect, to relax, to do other things, however it is difficult to do too many things when you only have a free hand and yes or yes you have to sit.
We (my wife and I) simply accept that naps had to be like that and we look for activities for those moments. Television, a book or surfing the Internet are activities that can be done perfectly with one hand and serve perfectly as a time of disconnection.
However, there could be parents who wondered how long the naps will be like that, since there are people who prefer to know where the end of the road is before continuing to walk.
The truth is that the only one who has the answer is the baby. Some will begin to fall asleep in the stroller and take their naps in it (this is what happened with Jon, who began accepting the stroller and ended up being his daytime "cradle"), others will lie down one day in his foam puzzle or his play mat and they will sleep alone and it will be you who are surprised to see that he has fallen asleep without you and others will continue to fall asleep with mom and dad, maybe in bed, with their caresses and their presence and they will accept being left alone for a little while (As you see in general I speak of some time beyond the first year).
And the cradle?
Well, the cradle ends up as a toy-guard, as a clothes-guard or as a decorating object so that people think that you have a baby and when the baby grows you realize that the crib is in the same place where you left it, almost with the same wrinkle on the sheets the last time you put them freshly ironed, waiting for time to pass and a bed to replace their space.
-How about the crib?
-Well, mom (or mother-in-law or whoever you are), sleep beautifully in it.
Photos | Flickr - flash.pro, freeparking, rsgranne
In Babies and more | High demand babies: taking the stroller for a walk, High demand babies, High demand babies: go to the WC with the child in arms
