A rant about people who THINK their kids have problems

DadSteve · **Joined:** Fri Jul 09, 2004 11:10 am **Posts:** 290

I was just over at BabyCenter.com's sleep problems forum. It's simply amazing over there. There are plenty of parents with legitimate baby sleep issues over there, but then there are the maybe 1/3 of the posts that are written by parents who seem to have no idea what it's like to have a baby around. This is an actual portion of a post:

Quote:

I know this may sound fabulous to some, but my ds takes 4 - 1 hour naps. He is 5 months old and I have heard that they are suppose to be down to 2 or 3 naps by now. I am wondering if there is any way I can extend his naps in order to cut down on the number of them. He is an extremely sleepy baby and he shows signs of being tired after 45 minutes to 1 hour of waking.

Are you KIDDING ME? Maybe my kids are just difficult, but a full one hour nap several times a day sounds like friggin' heaven to me!

Here's another:

Quote:

Our second child is two weeks old, and won't sleep unless she's being held.

Okay ... this HAS to be a joke. The kid is two weeks old. What is it you expect from the poor newborn?

Here's one more:

Quote:

My almost 3 month old baby girl is a pretty good sleeper. She has been sleeping through the night for several weeks now with only a few relapses. She usually goes to bed between 9:30-10:15 and wakes up between 6:30-7:00 the next morning. She is formula fed and has been getting some rice cereal at night in her bottle. Anyway, I have a hard time getting her to nap in her bed during the day for long periods. I can put her down with her pacifier when she gets tired and she will fall asleep on her own but 45 minutes to 1 hour later she is wide awake and happy as can be! It's like she doesn't need a longer nap than that. I want her to move to 2-3 longer naps per day instead of 5 short ones but I don't know how to do this.

This one made me want to reach through the computer screen, find the person who wrote it, and strangle her. The child sleeps through the night at three months AND takes one hour naps, and the parent has the gall to complain about something?!? I was particularly angry about it as I laid in bed listening to my four month old son scream at 2:30 this morning because he woke up and didn't want to go back to sleep.

I know this is going to sound bad, but I swear sometimes that people who have easy kids just have no idea what it's like to be a parent.

Rant over. Thanks for listening.

mybabymaile · **Posted:** Thu Oct 14, 2004 10:53 pm

i swear some people, maile takes one 45-60 min nap gosh why have a kid if all they are going to do is sleep soounds like they have more things to do then spend time with the kid

DadSteve · **Joined:** Fri Jul 09, 2004 11:10 am **Posts:** 290

mybabymaile wrote:

i swear some people, maile takes one 45-60 min nap gosh why have a kid if all they are going to do is sleep soounds like they have more things to do then spend time with the kid

My daughter (2.5 years) takes about an hour and 15 minute nap on a good day. She's slowly transitioning away from taking a nap at all, even though she's cranky when she skips it. We still put her in her room for a while, regardless. It took a LONG time and a lot of work to get her sleeping during the day and night properly. At one year old she was waking up five to six times a night. She was a nightmare. My four month old son, meanwhile, wakes up two or three times a night and takes naps no more than a half hour long, and has to scream for 5-10 minutes before each of them. We walk around like zombies most of the time. But, honestly, that's just what it's like to have a baby as far as we're concerned. It will get better, and that keeps us going. Yeah, I complain sometimes but I can't fathom complaining about a baby that sleeps through the night and takes one hour naps. That's a completely alien thought to me. We STROVE to get to where that woman is and she's bitching about it.

megansmom · **Joined:** Mon Apr 05, 2004 12:53 pm **Posts:** 52

Yeah I know what you mean. At 3 months old, all my daughter did was cry all day. Naps? I didn't know what that was at that age! I was lucky if she took a half an hour nap. Now at 16 months old, I think she is transitioning to one, which I thought she was doing months ago. So I tried and she was miserable. So then I went back to two time outs a day and that was better than nothing. Then she picked up the two naps a day. Now she isn't taking the morning nap but taking a long afternoon nap too late in the day. Sounds like she needs one nap to me, so we are going to try that again eliminating the morning nap and having an earlier afternoon nap. I guess you really shouldn't blame them for not knowing what it is like to have a child that doesn't sleep well, they dont know any different. Luckily she is a great sleeper now!

Terri B · **Joined:** Mon Jun 07, 2004 2:15 pm **Posts:** 59

I guess I'd be one of those parents that DadSteve is wanting to reach through the computer and choke. My 13 month old sleeps from 8:30 until 7-7:30AM without waking and takes two very regular 1-1/2 hour naps a day. From the time she was born she's been a pretty good sleeper with a few (what Steve would consider VERY minor) problems along the way. But as a first time Mom, who read many books and articles before and after birth about babies and sleep habits, I wanted to hear from and get opinions from other more experienced parents. So I'm sure I probably posed some of those questions he thinks are a sign that we are clueless. Guess what? WE ARE sometimes-we haven't done this before! I don't think any of those quotes constituted "bitching", but was a parent wanting help, an opinion and maybe some support. I've always been told there are no stupid questions when you are unsure about something but I guess DadSteve has another opinion on this. Maybe you just had a bad day that day, but shame on you for berating those parents.

DadSteve · **Joined:** Fri Jul 09, 2004 11:10 am **Posts:** 290

I have little patience for parents who don't know when they have it good.

A rant about people who THINK their kids have problems

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