I am not a good sleeper. My children are not good sleepers. I have dark circles under my eyes to prove it!! I have always been a light sleeper - the smallest noise can wake me! The combination of these two things leaves me dazed feeling like I am walking around in zombie land!
The worst started when I was 5 months pg with Camden. I would wake in cold sweats at night worried sick - that because I had not felt him move - something was wrong. If I was not worrying about his lack of nighttime movement - I worried about fires, tornadoes, nuclear war ... anything & everything that could harm my precious cargo! I did not sleep - I worried. Things only got worse when he was born. I was a nervous wreck that my son would fall victim to SIDS & having had a previous experience with SIDS my fears were overwhelming! Because Joe worked nights it was easy to cater to my fears by putting Camden in bed beside me - where I could drift in & out of sleep all night listening to him breath or if necessary lay my hand right on him so I could feel him breath. So yes, while Camden is now almost 2 & sleeps in his own bed, it is my fault he wakes in the middle of the night more times than not just wanting to touch me while he drifts back to sleep.
I had not deliberately set out to be a co-sleeper with my child so when I got pregnant with Maggie I was determined things would be different! She WOULD sleep in her bassinet or crib! She WOULD NOT sleep with me! She WOULD NOT die of SIDS! I spent my pregnancy worrying my way through sleepless nights & working with Camden to get him sleeping in his big boy bed. By the time Maggie's scheduled arrival date was here we had big boy bed success! & when we brought 5 day Maggie home she took right to her bassinet & slept peacefully through the night - every night - from day one! I of coarse spent my nights in & out of sleep checking my children to make sure they were still breathing & worrying the usual worries but content that they were in their own beds & my restless sleeping was back to normal.
I don't know what went wrong that disrupted our peaceful nights! It seemed to happen suddenly without warning! At almost 4 months old Maggie started waking at night - not once - not twice - but sometimes 5, 6, 7 or more times!! & of coarse having inherited his mother's light sleeper problem Camden was soon up with us!
& so desperate for a few minutes of sleep we are back to co-sleeping. I've tried everything from setting up a bedtime routine complete with lavender baths & story time to supplementing in a formula bottle with cereal. I have researched the internet - where experts insist babies DO NOT FIGHT sleep it is a behavior issues... sure would like to invite an expert to my house for a night or two who could explain that to my daughter!
Awww Vickie, I feel your pain. Kaleb at 9 years old sometimes wakes me up in the middle of the night (thankgoodness it only happens several times a month). Of course, when he is sick or scared he will ask to sleep in my bed. I am happy to oblige him because children need the security of knowing they are safe in your arms no matter how old they are!
ReplyDeleteI promise you that it will eventually get better, those bags will disappear, and walking around in zombie land will be a thing of the past.