DD changed every week as she grew up. How to put her to sleep became one of the biggest issues for me. Each time after I invented or discovered a new trick, she quickly identified it. A seesaw battle of tricking and anti-tricking had been on between us…
In the first two weeks after her birth, every time after I fed her, I let her nurse one more time on one breast. She sucked the nipple for no more than one minute and then fell fast asleep.
Beginning week 3, I found this trick didn’t work any more. Her eyes were still widely open after the bonus feeding. Sometimes she still fell into sleep while nursing, but immediately woke up when I moved her to bed. Therefore, a new trick—gentle rocking replaced the old one.
Unfortunately, this new trick quickly lost its effect. DD began to enjoy being held and the rocking motion. She kept looking around curiously with her beautiful big eyes, completely ignoring me yawning and fighting to keep my eyes open.
Then I found out pacifier could calm her down and put her to sleep. As soon as she began to suck the pacifier, her eyes began to show watery and she began to drift away. What a wonderful thing!
Soon DD identified this trick. She spit the pacifier out as soon as I put it into her mouth. Sometimes she pushed it back using her tongue with a sunny smile!
Another headache was how to prevent her from waking up after we laid her down in her crib. First, we thought the mattress was too firm. M added an extra layer of soft blanket above the mattress. It didn’t work.
Then, M thought maybe because DD enjoyed our body warmth when we held her, and she could tell the difference when she was transferred to the bed. To fool her that she was still being held, M used the heating pad to warm her mattress before putting her down. It failed.
Lastly, M consulted his coworkers that putting a hand on her tummy may mislead her to think we were still with her. When this trick first worked, M danced happily like a kid. Of course nothing could deceive our smart little one. She quickly learned our hoax and successfully blew it.
So new tricks are badly needed. The seesaw battle between my tricking and her anti-tricking went on….
After words: Yes, a new trick was found eventually. This time, it was her thumb. No matter what she was doing, as soon as she put her thumb into her mouth and began to suck it, she fell fast asleep.
In the beginning, I was so happy that I could finally steal some naps myself. Then I noticed she enjoyed the magic power of thumb-sucking and it looked like it was going to last forever. I began to worry when she would give it up….
Baby's Growth, First Year, From Lina | Lina | 
August 1, 2008 3:36 pm | 
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