<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"I can handle Ariana&amp;#039;s goofing around in her crib at bedtime\u2014laughing and singing &amp;quot;Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star&amp;quot; or the ABC&amp;#039;s to herself. I just walk away, practically fall onto my bed and close my eyes. How can she want to boycott sleep when I&amp;#039;m ready to pass out at 8 p.m.? But then the pleading begins: &amp;quot;Mommy, I want my radio.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Mommy, I want Dora.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Mama, I want milk.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Mommy, I want Daddy.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Mommy, I want baby.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Mama, I want ice cream.&amp;quot; I do what any exhausted mother would do. I ignore her. Ariana learned to put herself to bed many moons ago, and now she&amp;#039;s choosing to stay up. She&amp;#039;s not sick and she naps great. At night, all she wants to do is party. Dancing, jumping, giggling. All fine, except our upstairs is tiny and Samantha and Ariana sleep against the same wall. While Ariana whoops it up, she hurls things out of her crib, like her baby doll and blanket, and then uses her weight to push the crib&amp;#039;s wheels across the hardwood floor. She manages to grab the wipes off her changing table and throws the container across the room. And then it starts. The part I can&amp;#039;t handle. The crying and screaming. The wailing of, &amp;quot;Mama\u2014I want Mama.&amp;quot; As a mom who thought she had three children sleeping through the night, I&amp;#039;ve happily boxed up the sleep books. I know what&amp;#039;s in the fine print anyway. Let her cry. Don&amp;#039;t go to her. She must put herself to bed. The mother in me\u2014with a heart\u2014wants to go and comfort her but the sleep-book-trained mom in me knows that she&amp;#039;s manipulating me and I need to let her cry. I pull the covers over my ears and turn up my sound machine. (We all have sound machines in our house\u2014you can probably hear the roar of the ocean from down our street.) Growth spurt? Becoming more social? Overtired? Whatever the reason for her newfound insomnia, we&amp;#039;re at a loss. We&amp;#039;ve even tried to put her to bed earlier. But she always puts up a good hard fight. It probably takes an hour and a half until she finally goes to sleep. This is draining. Where I once looked forward to bedtime I now dread it. I&amp;#039;m tempted to bring her the darn radio and ice cream and see where that takes us. I know that&amp;#039;s not logical. I get a little loopy when I&amp;#039;m craving sleep.\u2014Julie Weingarden Dubin What do you do when your kids resist bedtime? Do you have any stories to share on how you&amp;#039;ve been able to get your babies or kids to bed? Have you done anything outrageous in your quest for shut-eye? Share your stories in Comments. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.womansday.com/life/a41413/let-her-cry-5362/>