Tuesday, August 12, 2008

How Do I Cope??

How do I cope with the fact that our 4 year-old daughter still sleeps in the bed with us? When my 18 year-old was a little tyke, I didn’t have this predicament. He went from bassinet, to crib, to a twin bed without difficulty.

You know, I think I have figured out whom or what is at fault…MY HUSBAND. Since The Princess was born he has coddled, swooned over, held and spoiled her like nothing I’ve ever seen. I realize that fathers and daughters have a special bond but this relationship is almost sickening. As a newborn, daddy took her to bed every night at 9 pm but rather than lay her in the bassinet, he allows her to sleep in the bed next to him or I would find her lying on his chest—both sound asleep. It’s the cutest thing you ever want to see, but, it has lasting effects. Ok, I know what you’re thinking; ‘that’s dangerous’. And, yes, that was a discussion at the time.

As The Princess grew, this practice became the norm and worse. I warned him, my sisters warned him, everyone WARNED him to break the cycle NOW but he wouldn’t listen. That was his “booboo” and he was going to do as he wanted.

We purchased a crib that never got used—she was afraid of being closed in. We then purchased a toddler bed so that she would feel comfortable getting in/out herself—that didn’t work either.

Ok, so what next you ask... Years later, we haven’t made much progress. This is what came next; we took the mattress off the toddler bed and placed it on the floor at the foot of our bed—we call it the “make-shift bed”. This idea is working 50% of the time. At bedtime, The Princess will fall asleep in our bed then we move her to the “make-shift bed”. However, throughout the night she finds her way back to our bed, planting her little body right in the middle.

The hubby is now complaining about The Princess sleeping in the bed with us. I tell him to shut up because he’s the one that created the problem. I go through phases of wanting her out of the bed NOW to not giving a hoot. Hopefully one day The Princess will grow out of this phase in her life and begin to sleep alone. What do you think? Can someone tell me, how do I cope? Better yet, how do we get her out of our bed?

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