As parents there are many things that we need. More hands, More time. More help. More patience. More coffee. More money. More sleep.
MORE SLEEP.
I need more sleep.
One night (or more) of uninterrupted sleep. Where my head hits the pillow and no one bothers me until the next morning. I think this is sounding like I need a vacation.
Sounds glorious doesn’t it?
Back to my reality which at the moment does not include a vacation!
I’m very lucky in that I’m able to function on a small amount of sleep but night after night after night of interrupted and little sleep it starts to add up. The exhaustion sets in and it becomes hard to function.
Little Dude is a horrible sleeper. Horrible. I don’t know what his problem is. He has no issue falling asleep. It’s the staying asleep. Some nights are worse than others in that he will go to bed around 7 but wake up around 10 and be up for a few hours. Then the other way he will fall back asleep in on top of me. Cheek to cheek. Breathing in my ear. Heavy breathing in my ear. It’s torture. Then he rolls from one side of me to the other. Starts to pinch me. Then repositions himself on my head. I could go, on and on. To then start my day around 6 am exhausted because I didn’t sleep well.
We’ve tried shushing, we’ve tried going in on a time period and comforting him in his crib and we’ve tried letting him cry it out. It doesn’t work. He will not go back to sleep without being on top of me or The Hubster.
When I started writing this post he was sound asleep in his crib. Now as I finish it he is wide awake in the basement with me.
It’s going to be a long night for me.
So whatever ideas, suggestions, and sleep you can throw my way. I sure would appreciate it!
I wish I had some words of wisdom for you, but I never found a good solution. Michael was an awful sleeper, particularly on the falling asleep side, but he also woke often in the night and only slept well with me. So he spent a lot of nights in the bed with me, as I got the most sleep that way. Still not enough, but more. You’re already doing that.
The one thing that made a difference to him sleeping through the night was when we put him in a toddler bed instead of the crib. He was only 16 months. I’m not sure if it was because I laid down with him until he fell asleep, so he was more sound, or if he really and truly just hated being in a cage. It was the same crib mattress, so no difference there.
We were worried about him toddling out of his room and falling down the stairs, so we put a doorknob cover on the inside of his door and shut it. He was effectively locked in, but our room shares a wall with him, and I heard every movement, so as soon as his feet hit the floor I knew he was up and could go to him quickly if he needed.
Short term fix for you – stay in a hotel for a night. Leave the kids with daddy. At least you can get one good night’s sleep and maybe get back on track yourself.
Thanks for your advice, Deb. I too think that he may be better suited for a bed as well. Princess Peach also hated her crib. He has just starting sleeping on a cot at daycare so I wonder if that could be part of the issue. He sleeps there with no issue so I’m not sure why it would be an issue for us at home!
I do need a stay in a hotel! Oh, that would just be so perfect 🙂
I don’t have any advice for you but I do hope you can get it figured out soon so you can get a decent nights sleep.
I need more sleep too. I haven’t had a REALLY good sleep since my first born son was born in 2009! I also have another little boy who was born in 2013. I’m a certified Mommy Zombie!