Someone Let Us Get Some Sleep
May 26th, 2009 · 11 Comments
- Image by moochida via Flickr
I am usually not one to vent, but had to get this out … well because if I don’t I will go crazy! Life has been getting to me, or rather the lack of sleep in my life has been getting to me, and I really needed to get this out!
I tell you life was soooo much easier when I had one child. My first born was so easy, she would sleep until I woke up, eat when I ate, and pretty much do ANYTHING I wanted at the moment I wanted it done. Now bring two boys into the family … ages 2 years 10 months and 10 months. One will be 3 on August 13th the other 1 on August 19th. Two years apart and both boys.
Neither boy enjoys sleeping, seriously! I have AJ on melatonin to go to sleep, and Baby K is still sleeping in our bed to avoid the two hours of fighting with a 10 month old to sleep in his crib. Yeah, this life is starting to get annoying and frustrating! I am often found wishing the boys were more like their older sister, who is pretty easy to get along with – if you take away the occasional girly DRAMA.
Baby K will sleep soundly most of the night and into the morning IF there is complete silence – which means do not allow the dog to bark, do not allow AJ to wake up doing his odd noise he makes every hour, do not allow Ki into the room to give me a hug or a kiss mid night and certainly, whatever you do, do NOT get up to go pee in the middle of the night … or else baby K will be up and ready to move for the day!
AJ on the other hand, can sleep through noise usually, but for some reason he has been having trouble sleeping through the night. Originally he was overly hyper and would not settle for sleep, now he is settling for sleep and has a bedtime routine, however, it seems he is unable to sleep sound longer than 1-2 hours at a time. He can get himself back to sleep, but he is yelling Mama or Dadda every couple of hours which wakes all of us up.
Lucky for my oldest, she is a sound sleeper. You could seriously bang cymbals by her head and she would stay sleeping. I have never understood this, but she has been this way since day 1.
I am beginning to wonder if being a light sleeper is just a “boy thing”. Really – the boys are the only ones who sleep so lightly. Although I love all three of my children dearly, I am really getting frustrated with the whole … “IF one boy wakes up … the OTHER boy wakes up” routine that has become my life. I am crying most mornings, middle of the day and even when my husband comes home from work I am in tears.
It is really frustrating to want some sleep and know that 6 days a week, over 50 hours a week – I AM ALONE … the boys are my world all these hours. My oldest is in school and goes to her Dad’s a couple nights a week, so really it’s the boys that are driving me crazy. They are keeping me up, they are not getting good sleep, and there fore both the boys and myself are GRUMPY with capital letters.
I am looking, searching, yearning for an answer to find a better way to get some sleep. I would love to have just one day where someone would come to the house, play with the boys ALL DAY, and allow me to curl up in bed and snooze for a whole day! Yes that means I literally want to waste a WHOLE DAY sleeping – oh that would be grand! I would love for a way to allow both boys and myself to sleep a whole day – it can not be any good for them not getting much sleep!
So do you all have a child that will not sleep? Do you have a child that when he or she is awake – the whole house is awake?! Gosh I hope I am the only one, but in some ways I hope there are others who can lend me some advice on what they do to get some sleep!
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[...] more laughter, happiness and the anger is slowly disappearing. I still hope we can find out why you have trouble sleeping because I fear it will only decrease your ability to learn faster and be active but I do love you [...]
Hey girl! you are not alone! I also have 3 and none of them sleep through the night, and every morning I wake up mingled in 3 pairs of tiny legs and arms, because I could not fight them back into their bed anymore!
We will have to open a Hotel for Exhausted Moms, with a 24 hours daycare downstairs…hahahaha That may be the business of the future!
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You aren’t the only one. We are on our first child, but our 9 month old wouldn’t touch his crib till 5 months and didn’t sleep longer than a 2 hour stretch until 6 months. He really cycles through good weeks and bad with sleeping. We have given up hope that good sleep will become a trend as it has just been snatched away so many times. He has had a cold for the past 2 weeks, so he has been co-sleeping with us. I don’t have any answers for u on the sleeping, but you sound frazzled. Make sure when your partner is around that you are taking an hour for yourself away from the kids. Also, maybe a playgroup during the day?
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good luck on getting your sleep. I know my dad is a light sleeper while my mom and me are sound sleepers, maybe you are onto something
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(78 comments) says:
My son took a long time to finally sleep through the night but now at nearly 2 years old he is sleeping very well. You just have to have some patience. Eventually they will outgrow it. My 3 year old daughter on the other hand is another story. She used to sleep just fine but now she fights with us every night at bedtime. She usually falls asleep around 9 or 10 and sometimes crashes on the couch or we have to take her to bed with us. She rarely sleeps in her own bed. It is frustrating but I am hoping that this too is just a phase and she will outgrow it soon.
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I know you are frustrated and of course have every right to be. I get so cranky without sleep. I mean without 8 hours of sleep. LOL I couldn’t imagine being up every couple of hours. Now when Gabby was little she didn’t sleep all night until the age of 1! I don’t miss those days but had almost forgot about them…
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(101 comments) says:
Girl, you are not alone! I have 3 children also, and my daughter was a great baby and still is a great child. She sleeps through the night without a peep. Now by boys on the other hand…not so much. Peyton just turned one and just started sleeping for longer than 3-4 hours.
I know exactly how you feel because I was just where you are. Do you have anybody that can come and watch the boys while you nap for a couple of hours? Even if you hire a babysitter just to get a few hours of sleep.
It will get better. (I know that means nothing now..hug)
there is a homeopathic remedy that you can buy at the health food store called Calms Forte that is a completely harmless and safe sleep aid for children and adults. they are little tablets that melt under your tongue. Also another product is Rescue Remedy Sleep, that you spray into the mouth.
Personally I found that white noise really made a difference in sleeping, such as a fan on full blast. I had a day care in my home with six kids plus mine and had them all taking a nap at the same time everyday with this routine…….read a couple of books, lay down and listen to lullabies for about ten minutes, then hit the fan button and they would all go to sleep.
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My two boys still do not sleep through the night. Have given up hope of ever getting back my 8hrs of uninterrupted sleep. 5yr old still comes into our room in the middle of the night to use the toilet. 2yr old still wakes up shouting for night feeds X2-x3 a night..or when he can’t physically feel my presence in the room. ( He sleeps in his own bed in our room).
I guess it will take time for them to really sleep on their own and being a light sleeper is not helping me also.
I try to take cat naps as and when possible to refresh myself.
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Oh girl you are SO not alone! I’m reading this at 9:30am, in my robe, wrapped in a blanket on my couch…and my kids are running amuck. I am exhausted. I am soooo tired of not sleeping. My mom came to our house and “sleep trained” Lilli for me (she was still waking to nurse at least 3x night) the WEEK before I found out I was pregnant with this one. Seriously..a cruel joke. Lilli was 13 or 14mo when mom did this for me.
My husband snores HORRIBLY…we are not even sleeping in the same room right now because it is the only way for me to get ANY sleep…both kids have been sick for months off and on and wake up at least once … and my three old, decrepit dogs all decide around 3 or 4 that they need to go to the bathroom and have some dinner… and their toenails click on our new hardwood floors until we let them out….
I could go on and on… I’m averaging about 4-6 interupted hours of sleep a night and it makes me 1)homicidal in the middle of the night and 2)Confused, weepy, unorganized and sad during the day!!
They will grow up. They will sleep again…someday. Hang in there. Do you have a neighborhood kiddo that is old enough to come over and entertain them for a couple of hours while you sleep? Like an introductory babysitting job? We are going to try that this summer with a neighbor girl… so I can get some relief. My husband is gone like yours is MOST of the time and I can’t do it right now.
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We had a rough start with our 4 year old but things have definitely gotten alot better in the past year. He is 4 1/2 now. He was waking up a lot, never, I mean NEVER slept through the night as an infant, nursed like crazy.
Now we
1) have a white noise machine (ocean waves)
2) the 4 yo stopped taking naps at about age 3 ish.
3) I put BOTH boys (4 1/2 and almost 2) to bed at some time between 7 and 8 pm. They share a room. They wake up around 6. Going to bed early REALLY helps. They wake up early no matter how late I keep them awake, so I choose to have that alone time in the evening by putting them down early.
So far this has really worked well for us, they rarely wake up unless the older one wets the bed or something.
I’m about to move to bunk beds so I hope it doesn’t mess up our routine.
I am crying right along with you! I have three boys and all three of them are anti-sleep! My first is 7 years old and he is a night owl and tries and talks his way out of bed. My 2 year old is a very very loud talker so not only does he wake my 7 month old but he himself is like the energizer bunny! I know I am creating worst habits to break bad habits but I keep telling myself it will get easier! It has too! I will lay with my 2 year old to get him to sleep. Its really more like a repetitive action where he gets out of bed I put him back in bed and remind him its bed time. So he eventually wears out and falls asleep. But then after all that my youngest wakes up and I nurse him back to sleep. DH works from 10am – 10pm so I am pretty much alone most the week and out numbered.
I have come to discover there is no right or wrong way to get the kids to sleep or even where they sleep. What matters is that every one does sleep and is rested! I dont have a daughter so I couldn’t really say if its just boys. So far in my house it is!
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