Thursday, August 23, 2007

SLEEP STRUGGLES ANYONE?

This post is dedicated to all of you dealing with little ones giving you fits when it comes to any sort of sleep time! I have spent the last few months TRAINING Maxwell to sleep. It took some work and a lot of guilt but we have been successful. However, Carden has been so difficult when it comes to sleeping through the night. Usually around 3:00 a.m. we hear him crying and some gibberish talk followed by banging on the door. We have tried sleep charts, rewards, praise, punishment, etc. I have checked out books at the library and asked everyone I know what to do. He has always been an excellent sleeper (which I do take credit for).

My new plan…. (ya right, another attempt at sanity)
Earlier wake time. Earlier nap time. Earlier bed time. Yesterday was the first attempt. IT WORKED!!!!!!!!!!!! Now it may be a fluke but I am happy to have received 6.5 hours of straight sleep last night! It felt great. I was reading a few blogs and noticed so many of our friends are dealing with the same thing. I had to laugh. It is nice to know, Rossi Family, we were not the only ones with our lights on at 4:30 a.m. Max woke but went back down after only a few minutes. However, I had had over six hours of sleep. That is rare and so my body was not going to go back to sleep. I thought maybe I should go to the gym. However, it is not open at that time of the……morning…..or is it still night? So I RESTED in my bed and actually fell back asleep at 5:30 only to have cute Max wake for his morning feeding at 5:45. So, off to the gym I went after all.

Isn’t it nice to know many other lights are on around your neighborhood at 1:00, 3:00, or even 4:30 a.m.? No one is alone in the not so simply task of teaching our children to sleep.

SWEET DREAMS!

4 comments:

naptime nostalgia said...

Abby-
So sorry you are having sleep struggles. What helped Camden finally was taking a little melatonin before bed. It has worked wonders regulatin his sleep cycles. Most nights he sleeps all the way through. We just have to make sure he gets up no later than 4 from his nap or we are sure to have an early wake up the next day. Which is what happened last night. Its funny though, Syd is such a great sleeper and with Cam its always been a struggle. Hope this helps.

Amy

ashli said...

Abby-
It seems to me that it has to get worst before it gets better. My boys are excellent sleepers and Sarah, being almost 3, is horrible.... but she kinda always has been. We can only hope it gets better with age, right?
ashli

Brad, Tracee and Brooks said...

Abby! I am right there with you. My Brooks is an excellent sleeper until we go on vacation. We just got back from Salt Lake and now he thinks he can stay up late or hang out in our bed, etc. Anyway, I am usually up around 2 am-give me a call!! HA HA!

susie said...

All I had to do was read the title and I knew this was the post for me! :) I have definitely been there... I know you will pull through it though because you are the sleep training expert! The place where we differ is that you got up and went to the gym at 5:45 am. The last time I did that was well.... mmm.... never.