Elizabeth Pantley

Here are my problems with "The No Cry Sleep Solution" which – don't get me wrong – I'm really in favor of, theory-wise. It's just that, practically speaking-wise, well, here you go:

1. My child has not read the part of the book where it says she needs 13 to 13.5 hours of sleep per day. She's getting 11, tops, and I cannot seem to knock her out for any longer no matter what I try.
   
2. I have not been able to force her to 'sleep more the more she sleeps'. I love the counter-intuitive concept of it, but actually, she seems to go to sleep earlier if she has no nap! To wake up earlier in the morning if she goes to sleep earlier at night! Whoa, the logic!
3. When I lie in the dark with her, refusing to engage other than to gently whisper "shhh, shhh" to help her settle, she does not drift off to sleep. Instead, she tries harder and harder to engage me until she's jumping around and crawling off the bed. This sends me into a red rage, which is not soporific to either of us.
4. Massage tickles her.
5. How the *%&# am I supposed to simultaneously whisk her into bed the moment she appears sleepy in order to respect and take advantage of her natural sleep rhythms and also maintain a consistent bedtime routine? She seems sleepy right after dinner, I get her into the bedroom, and changing her diaper gets her all riled up and peppy again. I can't abide the diaper rash that will appear if I don't change her between supper and the next morning.

It's true that I haven't blacked out the windows to see if I can get her to sleep later in the morning. But that would not help me get her down earlier at night. Quite the opposite in fact (see #2 above). All I want is for her to sleep from 8 pm to 8 am and for an hour and a half in the afternoon. Is that too much to ask???

She is really freakin' cute, though, isn't she?