What are you doing at 11 pm?

It was a joke when I was a teenager with my parents that when the announcement came on before thw news “It’s 11 o’clock. Do you know where you children are?”. In high school, 11 pm was our check-in time when we had to call our parents and let them know that we are alive and well.

These days, 11 pm in our house is that time that Princess Peach has been making her way into our bed.

Let me preface this. Before I was pregnant and about 4 years ago I was a child and family consultant for parents whose children have Autism.  I would help them deal with certain aspects in their daily life that they were having issues with such as behaviours, eating, routines and sleep. Sleep. I would go into the family’s home loaded with a package of research and present them what I “knew” about children and sleep. I even ran workshops where at least 20 plus parents would attend and I would give them information, tips and tricks on sleep and how to get their children to sleep and stay asleep.

As well, prior to having Princess Peach I said I would NEVER, EVER let my children sleep in my bed. They have their crib and we have our bed. The. End.

WRONG.

Parenting Fail.

Well, sort of.

I have mentioned many times that we never had to sleep train Princess Peach. That she automatically just slept. Which is true. At the beginning should often would even sleep on my chest at a few weeks old. Then when we transferred her into her crib we really had no issues. She just slept and for 12 straight hours. We were lucky and so blessed.

Then we moved. Then she got sick and since then our restful nights are few and far between.

At first the sleeping issues were that she needed to get acquainted with her new environment so we let her sleep in our bed. Then she was very sick so then she slept in our bed. Once she was better it was very few nights she was waking up and ended up in our bed. In the spring she was teething (poor baby) so she ended up in our bed. Then over the summer we were away a lot and in a variety of different environments so we told ourselves “at the end of the summer when we are done travelling we will tackle this”. We tried. And failed. Princess Peach pukes. We left her to cry and only after a few minutes she pukes. All over. Everywhere. It happened a few times and I was over it. We’ve given her a bottle earlier and let her cry and she just screams. I can’t let my child scream for over an hour. It’s just not us. We can’t even go into the room because she becomes a hysterical lunatic. So our answer is to pick her up, and bring her into our bed because the second her touches our bed she’s asleep.

So for now we play musical beds. Princess Peach falls asleep in her crib and wakes up during the night and ends up sleeping with us. I must admit that I love snuggling with her in the middle of the night and waking up to her cuddles and kisses and pats in the morning. But I know this has to change because we all need sleep and a full nights sleep.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, we have decided that over Christmas break as we are both off if this isn’t fixed then we will tackle it. Yes, it’s a long time away but somethings gotta give, right? And if not we will be calling for back-up (or a sleep doula).

Well, it’s 11 o’clock. I know where my kid is. Where’s yours? 🙂

Comments

  1. jnine0712 says:

    Oh I said the same thing and my first does indeed sleep all night in her own bed at 3 years old, but my second (who incidentally was my good sleeper as an infant) now sleeps in our bed too. She naps just fine in her toddler bed during the day, but something about nighttime that this kid will only sleep in our bed all over me. So I can totally relate to your post here. If you come with a solution, I would be all ears, but for now feel your pain!!

    • mscmommylife says:

      Nice to know we aren’t the only ones dealing with this. I’m pretty sure she just loves the warmth of our bodies because when she’s in our bed she’s all snuggled up with us. Keep me posted if you find a solution too 🙂

  2. sue diamond-phillips says:

    I cannot even put into words how much i understand!! I know it will sort itself out….um…right? Rylie does the same thing with crying…cry it out does NOT WORK for us. We tried it a few times, and she screamed for 6 hours, never slept, i went in and nursed her, put her down, she started again. The kid does not give in. If we can harness this will power and use it for good, we’ll be in great shape. She still wakes up (screaming) about every 2 hours, and i nurse her, then put her back and usually she goes back to sleep. But it sucks. I really want a full nights sleep!

    • mscmommylife says:

      It’s really been horrible. Pretty much each night she’s ended up in our room. Lately, it’s getting earlier and earlier. We do give her opportunities to CIO it’s just not right for her or for us. She loves cuddling with us and we love cuddling with her, which is part of the problem. I hope you get a full nights sleep soon!

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