We never sleep trained Lil Miss Wagon. She always fell asleep drinking her bottle before naps and bedtime, and had no problems transferring to the crib. Eventually we were able to put her down awake and she was able to fall asleep on her own with no problems. We never had to let her cry, and if she did cry, we didn’t let her cry for more than a few minutes. She started sleeping through the night on her own around 8 months.
She’s had her share of regressions, and her latest one was a doozy. For about a week, she would not fall asleep on her own. She would cry whenever we left her, so we would hold her until she fell asleep. One Saturday night, she cried as I left the room and I decided to let her cry for a while.
After 25 minutes of crying, she stopped suddenly. She stayed standing in her crib, in the corner closest to the door, completely silent. FOR TWO HOURS. She laid her blankie across the crib rail and rested her cheek on it and she would fall asleep standing up. Then she’d sway and start to fall, wake back up and straighten back up again.
After two hours of this (and watching her on the video monitor, convinced that she HAD to sit down at some point!), I just could not let her still be awake at 9:30pm so I went in and held her. She fell asleep almost instantly. Once I was sure she was asleep, I laid her in her crib and she didn’t move a muscle. I crept out of the room, watching her the entire time, and made my way back downstairs.
I looked at the video monitor and lo and behold, she was standing up again. In the same exact spot as before. Not a cry or a tear. Just standing again.
After another hour of this, she was really tiring and every time she’d sway and fall asleep, she’d let out a little cry. It was like she was refusing to give in and sit down, but her body was failing her at this point. She wasn’t even upset that I wasn’t coming back in… she was upset that her body was starting to falter, even though her will was still iron strong. I eventually went back in around 11:00pm and held her until she fell asleep for good.
I learned several things that night.
- My big strong girl is a really big, really strong girl. Even though she can’t really stand on her own yet, she’s able to stay standing (supporting herself on the crib rail) for hours at a time. I don’t even think I could do that.
- If we didn’t have a video monitor, we would have assumed the entire time that she had stopped crying and fallen asleep, and was sleeping peacefully for hours!!
- There is, in fact, someone on this earth more stubborn than me. And it’s my own daughter. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at this.
- When she’s a teenager, our mother/daughter fights are going to be epic. EPIC.
- My mom finally has her revenge on me for all those years of teenage rebellion. I’m sorry, mom. I really am. You have your revenge, and her name is LMW.
- As stubborn as I am, there is one person in this world that can break me. TWICE in a row. And her name is LMW.
The night of The Standoff seems to have been a turning point, though. The next day’s naps had a few cries and whines as I left her room, and the dreaded standing stance yet again, but she quickly laid down. She even rolled around and played, stood back up, and laid back down.
So the final lesson?
No matter how the battles go, all that counts is winning the war. (Check out the surrender below… hands up!)
Have you dealt with an epic bedtime showdown?
blogger / pomelo / 5361 posts
That is CRAZY!! I cannot believe she could just stand there silently for so long. I’m both impressed and a little horrified that she has that kind of will power. I suspect you are right about the “epicness” of the teenage mother-daughter fights. I’m glad her sleep is better now, though. One point for mom & dad!
blogger / grapefruit / 4836 posts
This is hilarious to me! If I have a daughter, I think I will probably end up with one just as stubborn as me too She is so cute! Glad you are winning the war!
GOLD / wonderful coffee bean / 18478 posts
LOL. I have really stubborn girls, too. Sigh. Gonna have some epic showdowns. We will have to comfort each other when we reach that point!
blogger / nectarine / 2600 posts
Thats crazy and adorable at the same time. I cant believe she didnt make a sound!!
nectarine / 2771 posts
Wow. That is horridly impressive! My LO is stubborn too (just like me :/), and I am also expecting some epic showdowns in the future!
hostess / eggplant / 11068 posts
DD is super stubborn, too. My mom says that when it comes to kids vs. moms, the mom always loses.
pomegranate / 3350 posts
Yes my son walks laps around his crib at night and refuses to stop. For hours he will do this in the middle of the night. We put him down and he gets right back up. It has been a real battle this week.
honeydew / 7504 posts
Wow. Just….wow.
guest
My son’s done the same thing!! It’s hilarious to be watching him falling asleep standing on the monitor (w/paci in mouth). Thank goodness it was just a phase. These kids of ours are stubborn!
hostess / wonderful grape / 20803 posts
OMG!
Well, yesterday T stayed awake before his nap for 1 hour and 15 minutes in his crib. Jabbering, crying, kicking the crib, playing, repeat. He didn’t fall asleep until 1:45 (up since 6:30!) but then slept 2.5 hours. Mom won that one ; )
coconut / 8279 posts
My mom used to grab my by the collar when she was angry with me as a teenager and say, “I hope you have a daughter JUST LIKE YOU!” lol
As you know, I don’t have a daughter – and I’m scared to!
Bullet points 3.- 6. have me rolling!!
guest
This happened to me when we were visiting my mothers for the day. Poppy has her own room there and normally falls asleep no problem but this one afternoon she wouldn’t stop crying. My Mother and Grandmother both told me she was fine ” we used to just turn the vacuum on to drown out the sound of crying” they both said laughing at me as I sat there almost in tears listening to her scream. 45 min later I went to check on her and she was standing up, arm and cheek resting on the crib, bright red blotchy face…sleeping. Then she shot her head up and screamed for a few seconds and then put her head back down. This continued for a few minutes until I could no longer stand there and watch my daughter sleep/scream/stand. When I picked her up I knew she had won the battle…this time. There was no nap that day. The lesson I learned was the only reason this happened was that I didn’t have my video monitor at my mom’s. If we were at home I would have known she was standing, unable to calm herself and I would have gone to her sooner.
blogger / pomegranate / 3491 posts
Oh Mrs. Wagon – you had be laughing out loud with this one. We have been there, just last night. Not with standing, but with screaming (ugh). Glad you won the war she is so stinkin cute.
wonderful pea / 17279 posts
LOL She fought long and hard. She is truly a warrior!
blogger / persimmon / 1220 posts
Yes, last night as a matter of fact!
Oh dear, I’m sorry mama but some of this had me chuckling out loud. I feel ya on the EPIC battles. Just waiting for them from my little Miss Sass!
coffee bean / 42 posts
omg this was one of the most hilarious posts! so funny
pineapple / 12053 posts
wow, she’s a stubborn one! the no noise thing freaks me out! glad you had a monitor to check it out!
GOLD / coconut / 8266 posts
LMW has some willpower! She fought the good fight!
blogger / pear / 1563 posts
Ha! That’s too funny! I bet she’s in a Wonder Week with all those sleep changes! Little P has definitely never stood for that long in his crib! ha!
GOLD / nectarine / 2884 posts
PRECIOUS!
GOLD / pineapple / 12662 posts
Is it wrong that I totally heard the theme song for The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly in my head while reading this?
No. 3 made me lol irl!
pomegranate / 3053 posts
Aaaw… I feel your pain! Nicholas used to do this too but he would eventually sit down and then fall asleep sitting upright. One time it was so hot I only put a diaper and sleep sack on him and he took ALL of it off and slept on top of his diaper. Luckily, when I went in to put his diaper back on he was so tired he didn’t even wake up while I put his diaper back on! Oh, and also he didn’t pee! Whew! I think sleep is going to always be interesting no matter how good of a sleeper our LOs are!
blogger / coconut / 8306 posts
This is hysterical. I CANNOT BELIEVE she stood there for hours!!! It’s makes me wonder how many times Chloe has done this! We don’t have a video monitor.
LMW is really stubborn! Can we photoshop a little white flag in her hand in the last picture?!
grapefruit / 4669 posts
Aww, that’s so adorable but frustrating! And impressive. Glad you won the war!
watermelon / 14206 posts
haha! That’s so funny! I can’t believe her perseverance!