You read that right, I am a (self-proclaimed) sleep expert. I have three children who were all crappy sleepers (one who still is) and I have survived them all (so far…).
So let me dispense some of my expertise on you. This is going to be life changing…
Ready?
ALL KIDS ARE DIFFERENT! If you were lucky enough to breed wonderful babies who sleep soundly from the moment they squeeze their way into this world I envy you. I however, fall on the complete opposite side of that luck.
First baby, my beautiful girl, she slept relatively well…for the first 2 weeks of her life. Woke up every 3 hours to nurse and then straight back to sleep. From 2 weeks on she was hell at night. I would pace the floor singing any song that entered my mind. I would hear her move in her bassinet and panic and pray that she would stay asleep. She didn’t nap either. I was lucky if I got 45 minutes out of her. This went on until she was 10 months old. Then we sleep trained. Daddy put her to bed and he checked on her intermittently to reassure her. Within 3 days she was sleeping through the night. It didn’t stick though. I mean, she slept better, but up until she was three I can still remember laying on her floor with my hand in her crib while she slowly drifted back to sleep. She’s almost 7 now and goes to bed easily.
Baby number two.
He is my chill little man. He was happy to be held by anyone, napped for hours in his swing, and only woke at night to nurse and go back to sleep. If I could label any of my kids my “best sleeper”, it would be him. He woke at least once or twice a night until about 16 months, but it was definitely manageable. Now, remember how I said all kids are different? Well, the same sleep training method did not work with this guy. He screamed for hours (with periodic checking). I eventually picked him up and then he was terrified to go near his crib again. So, scrap that method. With him, we would sit in his room until he fell asleep. Sometimes it was minutes, sometimes it was hours, but he learned to fall asleep in his crib on his own. Now, at 4 years old he goes to bed without a fuss and sleeps all night.
Let me now introduce you to baby number three.
If one single child could discredit all “sleep experts” it would be this baby girl. I thought she was my reward for not killing two crappy sleepers. I couldn’t be more wrong. She was an awesome sleeper as a newborn. She would sleep up to 8 hours without waking. I was in heaven. Then she changed. She woke every couple of hours. Then she changed again and slept 6 hours or more. Then she changed again and woke every hour. Then just recently she slept several nights in a row 6-8 hours straight. Then I started back to work just over a week ago and I haven’t slept much since. She is up every 40ish minutes. I have slept sitting in a rocking chair, sitting up in bed, laying on her floor, laying in my bed with her attached to me. She doesn’t sleep! And she doesn’t seem to need it!! I have tried every sleep training method out there. If left to cry she will scream until she throws up. If I stay by her bed she has a supernatural ability to stay awake half the night. If I put her down drowsy but awake, she wakes right back up. She has a persistence and stamina that should not exist in a one year old. All I can do now is pray that my sanity sticks around to see this through.
So, yes, I can claim I’m an expert. I have seen it all, dealt with it all, and still have no advice for you = EXPERT!
Comentarios