Sometimes all a mum can do is wait out the yelling and hope that the baby will get tired and stop yelling

Mum’s Heart: Mama Tendo

Have you ever endured two hours of yelling? Last week, we were introduced to the beginning of tantrums by Asiphiwe. The yelling treat was rebellion against sleeping time.

Bedtime for all the children in my house is earliest 7.30pm and latest 8.30pm. Some parents must be wondering how I have managed to send the household to bed as early as that. But I had to do this for my own sanity.

After running around the whole day and settling fights, misbehaviour, doing homework and reading stories, I knew that the only way I could wind down peacefully before my own bed time was to have the younger members of my household go to bed early.

You guessed right; they terribly resisted it at first. They yelled and screamed. They wanted to watch TV and there were many other excuses. But I was so tired of going to bed late and stressed so I refused to yield to their demands. When they realised that I was not in any way reversing my new approach, they started to yield.

Now if they spent a night in a home where supper is served at 10:00pm, they would never eat supper because their brain clock has already programmed them to eat and go to bed much earlier than that.

When Asiphiwe joined the family, at first it was hard for her to adhere to the schedule. For the first six months, we failed to get her into a sleeping routine. So while her brothers slept by 8:30pm, she stayed awake up to 10:00pm. With time, it became tiring trying to get her to sleep. So I started taking her to bed at the same time her brothers do.

I would switch off the light and then stay with her in my bed. When fully asleep, I would put her in her own bed. All seemed well until last week, when for some reason, she refused to adhere to the schedule. She threw such a tantrum and cried for two hours non–stop. She was uncontrollable. She rolled off the bed, we soothed her, but there was no response. She then started rolling on the floor. If I picked her from the floor, she would writhe to get out of my hands. When I put her down, she would want to be carried.

We tried all we could to no avail. I started to worry that she might be unwell. But after sometime, she got tired and fell asleep.
mamatendo@yahoo.com