Maya has her own plans

Mustafa and I haven’t had many big differences of opinion about raising Maya, but a big one before Maya even popped onto the scene was over co-sleeping. Mustafa sees it as logical/natural (it is a cultural thing, according to him); I see it as dangerous and scary (my family = big fan of cribs). After reading up on the subject, realizing he’s a very sound sleeper and a big guy, and seeing how TINY Maya was, Mustafa agreed–no co-sleeping for our family. So Maya had her own accommodations from Day One, and she was perfectly content and jolly. And we slept on the other side of the wall.

Then came teething. Maya was pretty jumbo by 6 months, so every once in awhile, Mustafa would sleep with her in the guest room after the 2am wake-up call. We’re talking a handful of times from 6-12 months. But in the last few months, it happened like 10 times, and finally (exhausted), we made a decision to put a stop to this nonsense.

Maya disagreed–LOUDLY. SCREAMING for HOURS as we re-sleep-trained (after giving Tylenol when she’s teething, of course). Checking in after 5 minutes, then 10 minutes, then 15 minutes…all of you who have sleep-trained know the drill. Finally, I thought–she’s used to a warmer environment, so maybe a warm blanket? I covered her with Aunt Linda’s quilt, and boom–SLEEP! Knock on wood, no crying the last two nights. Happy as a plump clam when she woke up.

Now we will work on naptime, which of course is no problem at all with Valorie, but is a major crisis with Mommy.