Patting, Rocking, Walking & ....... Bouncing?

Layla is sick. She has been unwell for over a month now. I'll spare you all the gory details but let me tell you, there have been many special moments! With illness comes extremely unsettled behaviour. There are more tears than normal, wanting to be held all the time and extreme irritability. Along with these gems has also come a complete melt down of daytime sleeping. Every time we even contemplate bedtime, Layla has a complete freak out with absolute hysterics. This is from a child who used to just take her rabbit comforter and dummies, roll over and go to sleep. As such, I have been doing a lot of assisted settling. It has taken me back to the early days of rocking, patting and walking her to sleep when she was very small. I know that once she is better, we'll be able to work on her day sleeping and hopefully return to the good practices we had established. It seems that no one told me about the impact sickness has on babies' routines and behaviour. I know that sounds really dumb but until you have lived weeks and weeks of illness, it is hard to understand it's toll.

Rocking and patting a newborn baby one thing but doing the same with a nine month old, nine kilogram baby is something else. Layla is not only much bigger now, she is stronger and more assertive. She manages to wiggle and push me making it hard to rock her to sleep. I read of a settling technique this week that I wished I knew of months ago. Rather than walking and patting while carrying a heavy child, sit on an exercise/fit/swiss ball while gently bouncing and create a great and soothing rhythm.

I wish I would have know about this when Layla was smaller. This kind of settling is not something you want to do everyday. However, when everything falls apart and you need to get your baby to sleep, using an exercise ball as an aide is fantastic.

I bought my excerise ball from Priceline for under $20. I used it for exercise when I was pregnant and also used it when I was in labour. I've used it to strengthen my core muscles post birth and now it has come in handy in settling Layla. So many uses for such a small investment.