I have always been a very light sleeper. We never could have a baby monitor when the boys were newborns, because I naturally would wake right up when they moved and they were all the way down the hall. With a monitor I could never get to sleep. If I am woken up for any reason it takes me hours to get back to sleep. This often results in me getting very little sleep.
We do not have a family bed. My boys start out in their bed, but often during the night they (Isaac and Josiah, John is a good sleeper) come in telling me they had a bad dream or their leg hurts (growing pains). Instead of having them go back to their beds, I just have them jump in our bed. I am the one who usually ends up in their bed hoping to get a few hours of sleep.
For a long time now, I have left like I did when my boys were newborns. I am always exhausted. This results in me being cranky and feeling like I need a nap all day long. I have tried it all, melatonin, Tylenol PM, simply sleep, no napping and no caffeine. Nothing would keep me from staying awake at night once they came in.
About 3 weeks ago I came to a breaking point. It wouldn't be bad if the boys would just stay in the bed with Monte while I find another place to sleep. They (mostly Isaac) don't stay with Daddy, he follows me around to try to sleep with me. One night I think I moved four or five times only to have him find me. I had had enough!
I remembered reading somewhere about putting a sleeping bag on the floor of your room and that is the only place the kids can sleep when they wake up in the middle of the night. I talked it over with Monte (he sleeps like a rock and never hears a thing). We sat the boys down and told them our new plan. No more sleeping in Daddy and Mommy's bed, period. They thought the idea was really cool and were all for it.
It took two nights and the newness of the sleeping bag wore off. They haven't been back in our room since!! It has been over two weeks and today was the first day I actually woke up refreshed. I honestly don't even remember the last time that happened. I am so thankful for a good night sleep!
6 comments:
Yeah!!!!!! What a relief. You will need that trick when your new little ones come too. Being tough is hard, but it brings great results :)
Good for you! What will your family do with a well rested momma?:) Everything is so much better when mom doesn't need a nap.
Hey Tisha - To answer your questions we were never given any rules about video. We were told we couldn't take photos of children to give to other families but group photos of kids seemed to be ok. No one said anything about video but I was taking video of the babies sunbathing and Almaz flipped a lid. It was crazy. She actually asked me to delete my video and I just flat out said no. She then said she thought it might get leaked to other families and they would see how many babies are there. I promised her I wouldn't share it and she was ok. As for the birthmother album I put all of our referral photos. AGCI sent us photos of Elias at 3 weeks and 5 weeks. That was it. We didn't see him until he was 6 and 1/2 months old. Luckily other families snuck photos for me even though it was against the rules. I put all the photos I had of Elias in the album. Almaz knew she didn't send them to me and asked me how I got them in front of the birthmother. I told her other families. She seemed mad but I figured it was ridiculous that I didn't get photos from AGCI for 5 months so I just figured she could deal with it since he was already mine. Kinda a bad attitude but it is a DUMB rule. In addition I also put photos of Brian and I, the nursery and our extended families. I also did some post cards of San Diego so she could see where Elias will be living. She really loved it. It is so special to give such a meaningful gift as these are the only pictures she has of her child. Hoping you get the call soon!!
Autumn
GOOD MOVE! We did it once too and got similar results. Of course, we're starting over training our Little Man who is almost 4. I may have mentioned that idea on listserv...can't remember. It worked for us! SO GLAD YOU CAN BE WELL RESTED!
We kept a sleeping bag under our bed for the same reason when the boys were younger. It only took a couple of nights in our case as well!
GOOD!
Now I won't receive comments in the middle of the night for you! :)
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