Brandyn has always been better at soothing Andrew than I have. When Andrew was itty bitty and eating what seemed like (and probably was) every other hour... Brandyn would work his magic on Andrew and "entertain" him while I squeezed in a few extra minutes of sleep. He rocked, he shhsh'd, he coo'd, he bounced... whatever it took. Brandyn's patience last much, much long than mine.
My tool box of soothing techniques is limited to one... "the boob." My bouncing, cooing, etc. is apparently not as effective as Brandyn's and my patience has a short fuse. So after a few minutes of fussing, my solution is ALWAYS... feed him. While its a nice "crutch" to fall back on... imagine my thoughts as I'm beginning to wean Andrew and wonder how the heck I'm going to calm him when I can't pacify him anymore. Well, last night... I got a little taste of how Momma CAN sooth.
We were at a friends house and we put Andrew down to go to sleep on a blanket on the floor. He was mildly fussy and so I laid down with him. I put my face against his, and wrapped my arm across his chest and "pet" him. He grabbed my finger in one hand and my ear in the other. And there we lay, my forehead against his sweaty little cheek and Andrew gripping my finger and stroking gently on my ear. He wiggled and wiggled and eventually feel asleep in about 3 minutes. (And I'll admit, I was crying with love and joy while it happened). It was one of the most amazing and touching moments of my "life with Andrew." It felt so sweet and great to be able to soothing my baby to sleep... and to have him "cuddling" with me... I could have laid there next to him for hours.
9 comments:
*sniff*!!! Aww, Alison, that brought tears to my eyes!
Awwhh, sounds so sweet!
I do something similar with Sophie...I say, "Watch me show you how to sleep Soph!" and we lay down together and get very, very calm. Works like a charm for both of us!
That is beautiful. Great job, mama!
ahhhhh - so sweet!
I love such special moments!
Awe...Oh my gosh...So sweet!
This is still how I get Milo to take a nap most days! I always say I should stop laying down with him one of these days, but I love it!
That is so sweet. You made me tear up a little. I can't wait for this with my little boy.
you've given me hope. jeff can always get gavin to sleep and calm him so much better than i can. he is also much more patient than i am and i most often end up trying to nurse him to sleep. i feel like that's my only trick!
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