sleep baby sleep

My friends who have recently graduated to being grandmothers have this to exchange with each other. Why are today's babies not sleeping continuously and soundly for a couple of hours in a row after a good warm bath and a feed. We also recall that our kids when they were a few months old used to do that. This does not endear us to our children who are the new mothers and having a less sleeping infant to take care of .D says, we were such low maintenance babies but we have no such luck when we are mothers. It is not a fair and just world!

I am following the kaizen method in trying to put chikoo to sleep. I watch, think, plan, implement, review and improve. I am now three months senior in this exercise. Now I watch out for him about 45 min to 1 hour after his feed for signs of tiredness.At the first sign I take him to his room and put him in my lap. He is happy.But the minute I try to pat his head he knows that I want him to sleep.He lets out a big yell, if he is not in the mood for it. The first time I was intrigued, so tried to change his postiion by holding him upright and patting him on his back or cradling him in my arms.The yelling continued non stop, so out of frustration I put him back on the cot.He immediately stopped yelling and broke into a smile,It was as though he was telling me, I was yelling in a different way, thought you would make out! I  remembered the paediatrician telling us, not to be worried with a baby's yelling.That it is his only way of communication and we should learn to differentiate the crying and yelling.Now I have learnt to look out for this particular yelling.

Today he did not object to my stroking his head. But he kept turning his head left to right and getting distracted by the light diffused through the curtains. So I tried to stroke his forehead and bring my palm over his eyes to shield them from the distraction. He did not like that. He showed that very clealry by wriggling. So I tried something smart. I kept my palm above his face and effectively shielded his view without touching him. He was foxed and was unhappy.Then he found a way out.He was watching me and giggling and smiling and charming me. So I closed my eyes and did not return his smile. A few minutes of this and I could feel that the wriggling had stopped and his gurgling and he had closed his eyes out of sheer boredom.

Before he figures out my trick, I celebrate a small victory. For now.