Mom Question

I don't know why I was so excited when Avonlea finally rolled over from her back to her front. It has caused nothing but trouble!

Since Avonlea was born, she has never slept on her front. Not on me, and not in her crib. This is partly because I was terrified by the thought of SIDS. But mostly, it was because she couldn't turn her head all the way in either direction because of her torticollis.

We have been going to therapy for several months now, and she has full turning motion now (we're still working on her head-tilt), but still acts very uncomfortable when she has to put pressure on her neck while it's turned (which is why she doesn't fall asleep on my chest or on my shoulder).

Well, this is now a problem. Because she likes to sleep on her side, but she often rolls over on to her front, and then wakes up, frustrated because she can't sleep on her front, and has somehow forgotten how to roll back on to her back.

When I put her down for a nap, it usually takes her about 15 minutes to fall asleep, and I go in every 7-8 minutes or so--usually needing to turn her over because she is grunting and fussing about being on her tummy.

But this week, with a combination of a cold and this turning-over problem, she has been up every two hours (and one night, it was every half-hour--yeah, that night about killed me).

I am not really sure how to teach her that she can sleep on her front. I will go in sometimes, and she is so tired that she is trying to sleep on her front--but she is literally face-planting in her bed. That REALLY freaks me out.  I tried to leave her that way, but she woke herself back up 5 minutes later.  I also don't know what else I can do to help her roll from her front to her back. She has done it before (she did it at 2 months, for goodness sake), but it's like she has totally forgotten.

Any suggestions, mamas

Updated to Add:  I went in to check on her, and she had fallen asleep like this.  Maybe I spoke too soon (or too late?)?

Great Quote

I've been reading through a political blog. It's so weird. I HATE political blogs. But I like this one.

Anyways, the author just wrote a great letter about being a parent of twins. And I absolutely LOVED what he wrote about being a parent, and how some feel that becoming a parent makes you lose your freedom:

I can tell you that what people say about “losing your freedom” is bull crap. We’ve got a pathetically shallow notion of freedom in this country, and that’s perfectly reflected by this common claim that you lose it when you have kids. Sure, if “freedom” is merely “the ability to go places and do things with minimal hassle,” then, yeah, you’ve lost that. You haven’t lost it permanently, but for a good long while. This is a flimsy, flat, flaccid view of freedom. I believe there’s more to being “free” than vacations and financial flexibility. I’ve seen both sides of this; I lived completely alone for the first half of my twenties, so I know about this sort of freedom. I know about it, and I can honestly tell you that I feel more free now than I ever have before. If I didn’t have a family, I could go on a cruise, or move to Vegas, or see Paris if I so desired. In fact, I could go pretty much anywhere on the globe. But I’d only be “free” to travel laterally. Now, I can travel deeper. I’m free to go deeper into human existence and experience things that are much more life changing, enriching, transformative and exciting than a thousand vacations to a thousand exotic locations. The greatest freedom we have as human beings is the freedom to change. I’m not talking about changing the scenery, I’m talking about changing ourselves. Having children is TRULY life changing; having free time is not. This is not meant to be an attack on people without kids and spouses; I’m just clarifying a point. They are not more free than you. 

Real freedom comes only from love. When you have your kids, you will have a love that you’ve never before experienced, and never could have experienced, and that will be the truest sort of freedom.

Read the full text of the article here.