Tuesday, July 26, 2011

The Sleep Issue (again)

After the last post, my heart went out to the commenter who wondered if her son will ever, ever sleep.

Oh, how I remember those days.

I believe it was mostly in my other blog, (or was it here? I can't remember... I'm sleep deprived). But basically, I've given a thorough account of Anna's sleep issues over the past year and a half.

I remember trying absolutely everything to get her to sleep. I tried putting her to bed with a night light, without a night light, feeding her cereal right before bed, rocking her, letting her cry it out, lavender creams, singing and shh-ing her while standing over her crib, gradually tiptoeing slowly towards the door, so she wouldn't notice I was gone, putting one of my shirts in her crib so she could "smell" me.

I even remember lying on the floor (before Anna could stand up in her crib) so she couldn't see me, but could hear me shh-ing her and saying things like "Mommy loves you. It's just bed time".

Sigh.

Desperation (and lack of knowing anything else) makes you do silly things.

It was a long 13-15 months. It was 13 months before Anna slept through the night finally. And it was around 15 months when she started going to bed easily. Now? We brush her teeth, read her a book, put her to bed and leave and that's it. She's out.

It's freaking bliss.

Of course, she still wakes up around 4 or 5am and needs to be soothed back to sleep with a bottle of warm milk... but there you go. I'll take it.

The point is this. I tried absolutely everything I could think of to get her to sleep. And, as frustrating as it is, it just took time. That's all she needed.

Just like with rolling over, crawling, learning to walk (and just as learning to talk will be), Anna figured it all out on her own. With time.

So if you're struggling right now with the lack of sleep, I feel you. I feel your pain big time. And I know it doesn't help much right now... but one day, your little one will probably just figure it out on their own as well.

At least there's a light at the end of the tunnel, right?

Until then - I strongly suggest you do whatever it takes (whether it's what you're "supposed" to do or not) to get the little ankle biter to sleep.

Save your sanity.

That's all us Mamas can really do, right?

3 comments:

  1. PS: I've heard co-sleeping is the best cure for mostly all sleep issues. We tried it. Of course, Anna is probably the only baby in the history of time who didn't want to sleep with her Ma and Pa. But if it works for you - hell ya!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great post! I just sent a FB message to a friend of mine saying the exact same thing today! I'm going to send her your blog link. So true, it just takes time. But Hez we're in the exact same boat, how will we go back to sleepless nights when we've been sleeping again? I'm getting nervous for November/December :(

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey Chrysta - sorry for the delayed response. (I know I don't have to explain though.. haha...) I have no clue how we're going to survive sleepless nights again. Coffee?? Lots of it??

    ReplyDelete