Putting Kai to sleep

I have a very unique method of putting Kai to sleep. Different from all other mothers, and differs from the technique I used on Xuan. If you have seen it, you might have asked me to stop. But strange enough, that is the only method that can soothe Kai to sleep. I'm 'proud' to say that I am the only person capable of rocking Kai to sleep until today! But the poor child might be screaming for help and pleading for me to stop if he is able to talk!

This is what I do: I would hug Kai extremely tight in my arms, and as close to my chest as possible, leaving no room for him to struggle and wriggle. Then I would rock him violently (unknowingly, until someone reminded me) from left to right, and right to left again, and at the same time desperately letting out an extremely loud "orr, orr, orr,..." that would drown his cries for help. Strangely, this method worked! After struggling for sometime, Kai would stop wriggling altogether and doze into slumberland. I guessed he was exhausted and realised that he would never win in the fight, so he had no choice but to force himself to sleep. Poor thing!

Don't curse me for that, I have tried all other methods but none seemed to work. I tried putting him in the rocker and rock him, sliding the rocker to and fro on the bed, putting him on the bed and patting his back, rocking him in my arms gently with a softer "orr, orr, orr"... all futile. The adults did not dare to utter a word when I performed my 'signature' trick, because they are not able to help. That is poor Kai's life before 4 months.

Thank goodness he doesn't fall for the old trick now that he has grown bigger, heavier, and strong enough to wriggle out of my arms. I stopped using the method as it doesn't work anymore. Now I changed to another method - give him milk in my arms until he dozes off to sleep without any struggle. If he is still half-awake after the feed, I will immediately transform his lying position from 45 degree to 90 degree vertical with his stomach on mine, and gently pat his back. On good days, this method works and he'd sleep. On bad days, he'd toss and turn his head left and right, wriggle to search for a comfortable position, either to burp or throw out all his milk like a Merlion. The supposedly quiet and calm ambience suddenly became chaotic when I called for help to clear up the mess. By the time Kai is cleaned, his eyes will be wide-open and the whole cycle repeats.

I wonder what would be my next best signature method to put Kai to sleep?

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