12.28.2007

Open forum

Since I still cant upload pictures from my camera, let's discuss a topic dear to a mother's heart: SLEEP. Is it normal that my 22 month old is such a bad sleeper? Or is he even a bad sleeper or just a normal kid whose parents have unreachable expectations? I think the trend is that he'll sleep through the night, 11+ hours, for about 2 weeks and then something, anything will mess him up again. If he doesn't get a long enough nap, if we go out of town, if he's sick, if it's a full moon... He's ruined and we have to start from scratch. He'll wake up in the middle of the night and be awake for 3+ hours. He doesn't want to be held, doesn't want to lay by us; he just wants someone to sit next to his crib and hold his hand for hours on end until he finally falls asleep. Guess what my friend? WE DONT WANT TO DO THAT! I'm all for letting him cry it out if he's not sick and we dont have company who have to listen to him scream.
My grandparents are staying with us this week
+ Cohen has a cough
= last night was no good.
Who has the magic answer? I'm willing to sell my soul...

5 comments:

Andrea said...

Yikes! That's awful. I do not have any words of wisdom except let him cry it out. But that's gotta be super hard if you have company staying with you. My heart goes out to you. (Nathaniel did this a few times while I was VERY pregnant w/ Felicia - they're only abt a yr apart. I had to rock him to sleep in the rocking chair. I was SO tired that I'd fall asleep with him. Can u imagine the kink in my neck that I would get? We had to start letting him cry it out, but once Felicia was born, it was a whole new story. I couldn't let one wake the other cuz they shared a room, plus the crying would wake Ben and he already had to wake up very early for work. I was constantly sleep deprived. I had to let them start crying it out. That was hard on me. Then they FINALLY started sleeping thru the night - granted they got a very late start like 10, 11pm or even midnight, but they wouldn't wake up even when I would drive them to my parents' house at 7am so I could go to work.) Sorry this is long. Good Luck!

Anonymous said...

Try some good ol fashion bribery! We did this with my baby. We gave her a chart and every night she slept in her bed all through the night she got a sticker. Amazing what the sticker can do plus when the week is full of stickers that = a trip to the toy store to get a prize! YEAH! This= happy parents and child! Good Luck!

Unknown said...

I read the BEST book for children of all ages to help them sleep. It worked on Finn the first night and has worked ever since! :)

Good luck!

Unknown said...

Oh, Sorry— It's The Sleepeasy Solution.

M. G. said...

I think that I am the poster child for sleep deprivation syndrome(SDS) You don't want to hear this, but you just have to lighten up. The hardest thing for me was to give myself up to motherhood. That is to just go with the flow. A child is such a life alterer. I tried to make my kids conform to my so called schedule, but just got frustrated and angry. So...what to do? When Dallin was still waking every few hours and Em was a tiny baby, I put a twin bed next to the crib and slept holding hands and or nursing a baby. I know this is crazy, but I did get sleep and didn't hate my kids. P.S. Dallin didn't sleep through the night until he was eight. He didn't wake me, but I would find him watching TV at 3 AM. That is why we don't have TV. Ramble, Ramble, Ramble.