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Label Me Merrit

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January 22, 2021

Lovevery Play Kits Review: Worth It? • My Honest Thoughts After a Year

December 21, 2020

The Best Montessori Inspired Gifts for Toddlers • Montessori Gift Guide

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My daughter was always an excellent sleeper. Until

My daughter was always an excellent sleeper. Until she wasn't.⁠
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From day one, I was able to nurse her to sleep, gently set her in her bassinet, and she would sleep 10-12 hours almost every single night.⁠
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Until the six month mark hit, and a switch flipped. All of a sudden, she was waking up every. 45. minutes. On top of that, after soothing her back to sleep each time, she would wake up the second we laid her back down in her bassinet.⁠
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It would take hours of me nursing her, my husband bouncing her, and both of us crossing all our fingers to get her to stay asleep for "the transfer". Then 45 minutes later she'd wake up and the cycle would start all over again.⁠
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This went on for two months. We tried everything in our power to figure out why this was happening, and how to help her through it.⁠
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🌙 We assumed it was developmental, and tried to patiently wait it out⁠
🌙 We tried switching up her bedtime⁠
🌙 We attempted bed sharing, even though we weren't fully comfortable with it⁠
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We tried literally everything we could think of to get her to sleep longer stretches, and we were reaching the end of our rope. We would be lucky if we got 4 hours in bits and spurts throughout the night.⁠
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We were exhausted. We were constantly grouchy. We weren't able to be our best selves. We weren't able to be our best parents. Something needed to change.⁠
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So as a desperate last resort, we finally decided to look into sleep training. This was something I had sworn I would never do. Every fiber of my mom-being hated the idea of just letting my baby lay by herself crying out for me and ignoring her. As a gentle parent, as an attachment parent, letting my baby "cry it out" went against everything I believed in as a parent.⁠
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*continued in comments*

Just popping in to remind you that you're allowed

Just popping in to remind you that you're allowed to not love *every single second* of being a mom!⁠
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Momming is HARD and it is ok if you need to complain sometimes. It does not mean you're a bad mom. It does not mean you don't love your kids. It doesn't mean you're ungrateful for your life.⁠
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This is me giving you permission to complain about the hard parts. The gross parts. The tiring parts. Its ok. You are still a great mom.

I don't tell my child no.⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ A lot of pa

I don't tell my child no.⁠⁠
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A lot of parents may read that and roll their eyes. Or assume my little will grow up to be out of control, spoiled or any other number of undesirable qualities. But in reality, they simply do not know the whole story.⁠⁠
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I don't just tell my child no, but I do give her boundaries and structure. If she questions a limit I have placed, I will explain my reasoning, rather than simply "because I said so".⁠⁠
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By empowering my child with the reasoning behind my parenting decisions, and the "why" behind the limits she has to live her life by, I am building the foundation for her own internal decision making.⁠⁠
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My goal is not to simply create a tiny obedient little robot, but to guide and teach a new human as they learn about life. Knowing how to make good judgments and decisions in her everyday will serve my child much better than blindly following commands.

Boundaries are one of the most important features

Boundaries are one of the most important features of any relationship. They ensure that both parties feel comfortable and respected. The parent/child relationship is no exception.
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Both mama and kiddo are allowed (and encouraged!) to set and enforce their own personal boundaries. Some boundaries may be a constant (kiddo never likes being kissed on the cheek) and some may be temporary (mama doesn’t have the energy to give a piggy back ride right now).
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By setting your own boundaries, and by respecting your kiddos boundaries, you are set a strong foundation for a healthy and mutually fulfilling relationship with your child.
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The lessons our child learns about boundaries (again in relation to respecting others and protecting their own) carries over into their future relationships.
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So if you find yourself absolutely touched out at the end of the day, and just need 60 seconds of having no one touching you, don’t feel guilty! Instead, view this as a teaching experience. Explain to kiddo your need for space and show that it’s ok to set a boundary, especially when it comes to physical touch.

Just because you're about to have a baby, does not

Just because you're about to have a baby, does not mean you need to fill your home with tons of unnecessary baby gear! Despite what many companies would have you believe, babies don't actually need a whole lot. Aside from the obvious things like clothes, diapers and some form of milk, most everything else is optional!

If you’re going to become a new mom soon, and are interested in keeping clutter low but are unsure which baby products are true necessities, make sure you checkout my most recent videos. I shared my top must have newborn essentials for the minimalist minded mama.

If you’ve already been through the baby stage, what product could you absolutely not have lived without? Leave it in the comments below to help out the expectant mamas!

When practicing gentle parenting there are three m

When practicing gentle parenting there are three main pillars to keep in mind. By balancing these three different (and equally important) areas of focus, you will build a strong foundation of trust and connection between you and your kiddo.

✨Understanding: Knowledge of your child’s current developmental stage is critical. Knowing what they are and are not actually capable of at any point in time can help manage your own expectations. Making sure those expectations are realistic is critical for building trust and confidence with your child.

✨Empathy: We all know little kids can have *big* feelings. On top of that, they haven’t learned many of the tools we use to deal with those emotions yet. Our job as parents is to help our kids navigate and learn to regulate their feelings, and the best way to do that is by empathizing with them.

✨Respect: Our children are their own individual people, which their own thoughts, feelings and desires. A core principle of Gentle Parenting is respecting that individuality, and existing as a guide to help our child through life, rather than a controlling authority figure.

How will you be implementing these pillars with your kiddo today? Remember to have grace with yourself too, there is no such thing as a perfect parent. Do your best, and when you fall short just apologize and try for better next time.

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