help with 1 yo babysitting

Hi
I have a 1 yo DS who I "parent to sleep" for every sleep by laying down with him. He likes to pull my hair as he goes to sleep!Due to where we live mainly (ok and I'm quite particular :) ) Ds has never been looked after by anyone for any length of time other than myself and DH.

DH can get him to sleep in the baby carrier which is how he does it if need be...but that's it.

In Feb I have to do a 3 day workshop in the city, and my mum is going to fly over from interstate to look after DS. She is an even bigger gentle parenter than me (LOL) so I trust her completely...the thing is...i just can't see HOW she will be able to get DS to sleep?!

He's not an easy sleeper at the best of times, and she's a big lady and won't be able to use our ergo carrier which is fail safe. DS hates prams and car seats only work about a third of the time.

Do you have encouragement/suggestions? I'm a bit nervous about this. Do you think I would have a hope of changing his sleep habits in the next month before the workshop?


TIA

Hi Rahjah

I know the feeling of apprehension! I've only just started leaving DS with my mum so I can go out for a couple of hours. For me, I established a pre-sleep routine and made sure my mum stuck to it to the letter. So far it's worked like a charm.

Maybe if your mum lays down with him and bub plays with her hair, he might just nod off. Sometimes our bubs surprise us and we wonder why we worried so much. Hopefully this might work for you. There's nothing worse than taking time away from bub only to worry if they're surviving without us!

Good luck :p

I was worried about this with my boy too. When my mum babysat him, he just played on the floor and at some point she said "want a cuddle?" and he sat up with her and went to sleep. I was thinking there would be tears and screaming for booby and he'd be very upset.... but he was fine! I've since left him with his dad (we're divorced) and the same thing happened, no crying and no upset. My boy was a bit older than yours - but your mum sounds like a lovely grandma so I'm sure he'll be ok with her :)

i've had the same problem with my ds. i basically cuddle him to sleep for every sleep. i've had to leave him with my dad a couple of times and he basically sits next to him on the couch, gives him a bottle of cows milk and rubs his back till he drops off. no drama!

double post