My lovely little sleep monster!
Today I was awoken with the sun shinning through my bedroom window, my first thought was awww how lovely, my second was BLIMMY WHATS BLOODY THE TIME!!!
As it turns out it was 8.26, we leave for school run at 8.45, giving me roughly…er..NOT ENOUGH TIME!! to find something that would pass for clothing, make sarnies, sort milly, chivvy slothful jack along (its a 9 yr old boy thang!) and all the other pre-school run “excitement”.
And as I stumbled down the stairs yelling at jack with half an arm in a coat sleeve and the other wrapped around my lovely little bundle of joyessness ( AKA Milly, who has taken to having me carry her around like the queen of Sheba since our hols, where she couldn’t really crawl around for fear of drowning, eating something inappropriate or being stepped on!, anyway…)
I had a lightning bolt moment….Milly, the tinnest and most intelligently challenged member of our house hold was infact ruling our lives!!
You see she has recently decided at the grand old age of 1, that sleep is for losers and that we all either join her camp willingly or she will insist ….to explain a little, I will start from the beginning….
Once apon a time…. A beautiful angel named Milly was born, She slept through the night and had two sleeps in the day and everything in the world was perfect…..Awwww…..
Then she started teething…..And she stopped being a perfect little snoozing angel and turned into more of a none napping rebel, a bed time fire starter, an insomniac baby…. you get the picture.
Since then the months have past. Poor big J has been sleeping mostly on the sofa and I have “don’t mess with me I am tired eyes” ( My eldest’s description!) as well as RSI in one arm from constant rocking baby motion.
I know I have to do something about it, Milly has always been so good in the past that its taken me sometime to realise that this isnt just a blip caused by teething, or colds or the moon being in jupiter or something ( I have a looong line of excuses reasons).
Milly has never been much of a crier and now the idea that I will have to listen to her cry and get upset makes me feel a bit sick, I know I am a sap, and I know she has to learn to fall asleep by herself…in her bed, not cuddled up with me and a bottle but I just don’t want her to start feeling insecure or fretful, or worse that I don’t love her. I am a grown up ( Or as grown up as I’ll ever be). I have 2 other older kids but for some reason, maybe because Milly is the youngest and the household’s resident princess I am finding it hard.
So knowing what lovely people you are if you have any shiny pearls of wisdom to share or even a couple of “whoop, whoop’s Helen your doing the right thing” type comments I would be ever so grateful , your Sappy Mum of the week, Helen xxx
Daytime Milly.. Look, I'm an angel!
Awwwwww…… little monkeys eh! My little boy doesnt really sleep through the night (hes one on Sat)
No reason…. well at least i don’t think so anyway.
Some days he will sleep through from 6.30pm until 8.30am and other times he will wake endless times in the night…..
…. when hes ready he will sleep through (hopefully)
Ah! lovely I know you’ve read my post so appreciate I really know how you feel and you know that I was adamant that I would NEVER leave Evan to cry too. But you don’t leave them to cry forever until they fall asleep out of exhaustion. You go in at regular intervals and then after a while you learn when to not go in just cos the clock says cos they are quietening down and entering their room would kick them off again. She is so completely loved in every other way doing this will not suddenly make her think she is not loved or become insecure. Angry yes at first but then once she is sleeping properly again all of you will be so much more relaxed and happy that the positive of this will far outweigh the impact of a few nights of her being cross and upset with you.
Hey, I had a sleep terrorist in my house too, it drove me to the brink! In the end (after trying everything, reading everything, etc.) I just gave up and resigned myself to having to take regular disco naps and to stop stressing. He settled down when he was 18 months old, which was when I made the decision to ignore him during the night. At that age he was safe, not hungry or thirsty (he had a cup of water in there!) and didn’t need a clean nappy so as I said, I made the huge decision to ignore him. It took 5 nights and he’s not looked back so hang in there!
WHOOP! WHOOP! You are a GREAT MUMMY : ) xxxxx BIG HUGS xxxx HANG IN THERE xxx COULD BE WORSE xxxx COULD BE TWINS ! All ladies above saying all the right things, so I will just ditto them.
All four of my children woke-up throughout the night and I never tackled the problem until they were one, I too could always find an excuse for their waking. The “controlled crying” approach always worked for me and all my children sleep well even now. It could take a few days but what’s a few more broken nights sleep?! Actually I remember that I always left this bit to my husband, I think the babies always saw me as a milk machine and with dad there was no chance of that! Good Luck!
Aww bless you. I have been in your boat for just under 3.5 years. Cody has only been sleeping through 9 wks. Don’t let her hold you to ransom like he tried. Controlled crying was a breakthrough for us. They cry because they’re cross that you’re altering a routine that suits them perfectly, rather than distress. It’s a habit and within 7 days, as long as you stick to it, you should see huge improvements. She will still love you, but you’ll get more out of each other with proper rest. Good luck n chin up x
We have been through stages of this with both boths, espeically minimad after my fist bout in hospital. It was his way of asserting his things on us. When they are small the main things they can do are to change their sleep pattern or refuse food!! We put our foot down, we do not negotiate with curly hair terrorists in The Mad House
Aww she is so sweet. My 3yo still doesn’t sleep right through the night. He is no where near as bad as he was, he is just insecure. My 1 you however has slept pretty much right through since he was 6 wks. I think the controlled crying does work, it’s just very difficult to do. But I think in the long term it’s a good thing. Good luck and sweet dreams to you all. x
Big thanku for all your comments and warm tweets, this sleep thing is defiantly tricky, Milly’s not sleeping in the day or night at the mo which means no icklebabe creating is being done either! very bad news…. can’t wait to start again. Have just ordered a book called The Sleep Lady’s Good Night, Sleep Tight book, which seemed to be in line with what i was thinking ie; no screaming insecure baby ;D but we’ll see. I will keep u up to date and hopefully i’ll be able to sleep and work again soon xxxx sleep dreams to u all xxxx
Hang in there Helen, you are not alone
We’ve had problems with my 2 yr old on and off pretty much since she was born. The teething period was the worst and as you say, mums have a long line of excuses for it. I am sure Milly will settle down eventually, good luck with the book you’ve got.
big hugs,
Ivetx
What ever you decide to do you will be doing your best which in my book is a good job.
We tried the controlled crying but it broke my heart. I would still go in, avoid eye contact, no talking just gentle back patting and noises etc.
Whatever you decide to try as long as you are consistent then I think that is the main thing.
Hope you get her sorted soon and get some sleep yourself x
Awww
I have no pearls of wisdom, but I do have sympathy!
Dylan is doing *exactly* the same thing – used to have 2 lovely long naps then go down in the evening like clockwork, now, nope. He too has decided sleep is for losers
They so won’t believe us when they’re teenagers and sleeping till noon!! xxx
(p.s. i moved my blog! it’s now here: http://lifewithlittledude.blogspot.com/ if you fancy a peek/follow – *and* you’re on my page of blogs i love, hope that’s okay
xx)
I can completely sympathise, after rocking the bear back to sleep at 4am this morning with more teething pains. I think you have to use your judgement, you know when it feels right to put them back to bed crying and leave them to settle, and you know when they really just need to be with you for a cuddle.
I’ve given you a sunshine award at my blog to make you smile!
http://babygenie.wordpress.com/2010/02/15/my-first-award-spreading-a-little-sunshine/