Sleep is a hot comodity in our house these days. With an 8 week old baby and a rambunctious toddler, hubby and I are essentially ships passing in the night.This wasn't always the case.
After Cate was born, we went through the typical first couple of weeks of sleeplessness with no rhyme or reason to our process, but we quickly learned that it made no sense for us both to be at the same time at night and we soon developed what we consider to be the best solution for us.
The 2 o'clock rule essentially means that I take everything up until 2AM, and hubby does everything after. Since he was an early riser BC (before children), it worked out well. Most importantly, it solved the middle of
the night debate on who's turn it was to get up - you know, the one where you pretend you're sleeping and hope your spouse gets up before the crying is so loud there's no way the neighbours down the street are still sleeping... Even with the 2 o'clock rule in place, we got really lucky and at 2 months old, Cate started sleeping through the night and barring illness, continued to do so for the next 2 years. That is, until we moved her into her new "Big Girl" room this past fall.
Oh how I miss the days of a quick kiss, tuck her in bed and say goodnight as we walk out of the room. Bedtime routine has now turned into a dog and pony show that often involves several books, a few songs and, at times, multiple escape attempts. Hubby has even resorted to buying a little book light and sits there and reads until she finally falls asleep. This whole process can sometimes take over an hour.
We have recently solved the getting up in the middle of the night problem by buying her an awesome clock that changes colour to let her know when she's allowed to get out of bed. It has been a saviour for the mornings since she used to get up at 4AM and be ready to take on the day.
So that still leaves us with the actual "going to bed" part.
We tried being tough.
We tried being really sweet.
We tried sitting there quietly.
We tried waiting outside the room.
Nothing has gotten us back to the time when she fell asleep on her own.
Any advice for a couple of sleep deprived parents?
3 comments:
I can't offer much both are children have been ending up in our bed of late :(
I just pray that it will sort itself out soon....
No idea :(
Connor still sleeps with us...and it's a horse and pony show at bed here too. And will only go for nap or bed if we stay the entire time....
I don't have the heart to be tough, so he does get away with it.
Recently, I have been trying to look at it another way tho. Instead of "I could be doing...." I think, "I x number of years, he's NOT going to want to spend an hour cuddled with mommy EVERY night (or ever!), so take it while I can":) It's helping with my patience level, and someday, maybe he'll go to sleep on his own...in his own bed.
We had the same thing happen with Dylan after Benjamin was born(our third). We read him a few books and after we read to him we calmly put him back in his bed and say Good night we love you see you in the morning. It's tough for about a week but we realized if he see's we get mad or frustrated he keeps the game going so you really need to stay calm and show no emotion when you bring them back to bed. We now read him his book and he goes right to sleep. Oh and we make sure his night light is on as well. I also wanted to say your blogs is very interesting and I enjoy reading it.
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