Monday 1 August 2011

The No-Sleep Sleep Update

I promised an update on the no-sleep monster situation. Well, the joint putting-to-bed thing has really worked. She typically settles down within 10 mins of us doing this and we can often steal away to forage for our dinner within half an hour.


Not always though. Some nights she is just determined to stay up late, share our dinner, spend several hours not wanting to sleep and then the rest of the night fractious with tummy ache...


But on the good nights, it works beautifully. She will sleep for anywhere between 1 and 3 hours generally before waking for a feed. And the last few nights she has let me put her back in her hammock, which gives us some much needed rest and space! Don't get me wrong, I am all for co-sleeping, but it just doesn't work with Girl Earthly. We are all much more settled in our own beds.


However - and this is the biggie - around 2-3am Girl Earthly wakes up and wants to party. Seriously. We try everything to settle her but she simply won't have it. She can easily keep this up till 5 or 6am, at which point her brother wakes up for the day. This has been happening every night and it's killing us.


My frustrations with all of this mainly stem from my inability to understand what is going on with her: if we put her to bed earlier or later it makes no difference. Her routine has essentially not changed - she still has the same cues. And despite the odd sleep-deprived explosion we are being unbelievably patient with her. But this has to stop. Somehow.


Father Earthly and I would love to hear your solutions!!

3 comments:

  1. Passionate Mama2 August 2011 at 13:10

    Sounds a lot like my little one used to be ...I feel for you! Exhausting! I do have some ideas. Tired now and needing to get my own sleep but here is a link that might help... A Securely Attached Baby and a Restful Night’s Sleep – Just a Dream?http://www.parentingwithpresence.net/index.php?pageid=905 You might find some other articles on this site interesting and helpful too.... and if not I trust you will find what works for your precious daughter and yourselves... Very best wishes. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Imogen @ alternative mama2 August 2011 at 19:13

    Oh love, that's rough :( hugs and mummypower for you. Xxxxx

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks Passionate Mama! interesting read and some things to think about... however our biggest problem is not really crying but getting her to want to calm down in general. I think she feels life is simply too short to be sleeping!

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...