•Sadie amazes me every single day. For all of her reckless and crazy behaviour she’s really coming around and enjoying her programs. I’m so glad we chose to stick it out despite her worst behaviour because we are finally seeing results. For example, learning how to take turns. Sadie is AWESOME at taking turns now. She can wait in a line without holding my hand and she will actually wait for someone to finish what they are doing before she takes her turn. It’s amazing to see this since until recently I had to wrestle with her to stop her from ambushing everyone and everything in her sight. She is also excellent at sharing which is something I’m very proud of. Please don’t tell me that will be short lived!!!
•Sadie is on a 4-6 month waiting list for speech therapy after being assessed last month. It’s a long wait and we’re hoping that she learns to talk on her own before we get into the program. In recent weeks she’s increased her vocabulary and seems to be more talkative. I remember that even from the beginning people would comment on how quiet she was so maybe she’s just holding back? We know she is smart; she just won’t talk other than some very simple nouns.
•Sadie has started napping in her big girl bed. She doesn’t seem ready to transition to night time sleeping but she loves it during the day.
•Bedtime has become a struggle lately. I have always been the one to put Sadie to bed but for the past week she has only slept for D or my mom. I’m not sure what to think. I ask her “Do you want Mommy?” and she says “Yes”. Mommy comes in, I leave, she screams like she is being tortured, calling out for me, and falls asleep minutes later. D then comes down the hall with a smug look on her face. I’m really not impressed.
•In an effort to actually get more sleep I’ve experimented with using my pregnancy pillow (snoogle?) as a barrier between us. This keeps Sadie on her side of the bed and allows me to sleep so much better because I’m not always being pushed to the edge. It’s worked for the few nights we’ve done it but I’m actually feeling a lot more tired during the day despite having felt like I’ve slept more soundly during the night. I love co-sleeping but I am starting to wonder about the long term effects of the light sleeping on my productivity and mental state. I feel like I haven’t slept a good night in 2 years… it’s hard and D and I are at conflict over this. D thinks Sadie should be in her own bed but I worry that I’ll still be up frequently attending to her needs but in another room rather than just rolling over and back to sleep. I’d love feedback from anyone still co-sleeping or anyone who has transitioned their child to their own bed. I’m tired and I just want a full night of sleeping... even just one. Dear Santa….?
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I'm not a person to offer sleep advice. Our kids don't seem to sleep well until close 3.
ReplyDeleteWhat I've been doing is starting the night in my own bed (if I can) and going up when Jackson wakes. That way my wife and I get our bed to ourselves and I can usually last until 1 or 3 am. Then I just change beds and sleep with Jackson. I'm hoping over time he'll learn to continue sleeping longer without me. But for us, the trek to the kids' room is a bit longer (different floor) so that's why I don't just go back to bed.
Don't be jealous that you can't put her to bed. That is so nice. :P
Great update. Sounds like Sadie is doing great!
ReplyDeleteCo-sleeping is great if it's working for everyone. But it sounds like it's not working for you or D anymore, and maybe not for Sadie either. If you feel like your sleep is interrupted and you're tired, her sleep may also be interrupted. So if you're ready to move her to her own bed and try to get her sleeping through the night, my advice is just do it. Just make the decision to do it and don't go back. It will be hard for a little while but just keep moving forward.
I don't have much advice about how to transition her because our kids were in their own rooms from when they were little babies. But maybe what we did to get Ian to sleep through the night may help. Not sure if Sadie is still eating in the night, but when Ian was about 8 or 9 months old, he was still waking once or twice in the night. At that point it became obvious to us that he didn't *need* to eat in the night anymore because he wasn't finishing his bottle. It was clear that we were dealing with a habit, and not a need anymore. So, if I remember correctly, we cut the night-time feedings cold turkey. We never did cry it out, but we would go in and try to find other ways to comfort him. I'm not gonna lie, it was hard for a little while and I can remember sitting on the floor in his room singing and crying at the same time because I was so fucking tired. After a while (not sure how long, a week?) we stopped picking him up too (unless he needed a diaper change, of course.) So we would pat his back and sing but not pick him up. It worked for us and he started sleeping through the night and it really didn't take that long. I know Sadie's a bit older than Ian was, but some of that may work for you to transition her to her own room and make her feel comfortable there. She'll need to know you're not far away even if you're not in the room. I've always told Erik at bedtime (when he was scared of the dark or monsters) that Mommy and Mumma can always hear him even if he can't see us and he always seemed comforted by that.
We've also always had a rule that if the kids wake up in the night, we don't go in right away if it sounds like they're just stirring, whining or whimpering. That stuff usually stops within a minute. Even crying, we'd let it go for a minute to see if they could settle themselves first. If not, we'd go in and comfort them. We tend to go in immediately now because it's more unusual for them to wake up at night now so it usually means something like a bad dream has happened and they need comfort.
I like the idea of getting her to nap there first. Getting her used to the room during the day is a good start.
Kids are all different so I don't know if any of this will be helpful to you. I used to like to give out sleep advice because I thought we'd done something right, but now I've realized that we also had a huge dose of luck in having kids who are just naturally tired at night. They're early to bed, early to rise (sometimes too early) type kids with few night wakings. We had to work at it a bit with Ian, but overall I think we've also just been lucky.
Anyway, I'm posting a novel here. Sorry. Good luck and let us know how it goes!
First, I'm loving your new header photo! So adorable!
ReplyDeleteSecond, I hear you on the co-sleeping. We are still co-sleeping (and night-nursing, oy) and are just starting to consider getting him to sleep in his own bed. He usually nurses to sleep in our bed, so it might be a good time to break both habits (nursing to sleep and sleeping in our bed). None of us are getting good sleep at this point. I am sad to think of him not being in bed with us, but also looking forward to a decent night's sleep. I also haven't had one since 12/09! There's a reason sleep deprivation is used as torture. So hard!
Oh Santa she has been nice it is time to bring her a good nights sleep!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like it is time for a change which always means initially less sleep followed (hopefully) by more.
That is cool that she is napping in a big girl bed.