I don't care to discuss my son's sleeping habits with other parents for fear of being strung up and beaten.
He has slept through the night and in his own crib since he was six weeks old. He goes to bed with little to no fuss after bath, books, and prayers and sleeps up to twelve hours (unless awaken by a nasty storm or our fastidious neighbor who insists on mowing his lawn at 6 am... on Sunday...) Otherwise, he wakes up between 8 and 8:30 in the morning if we rouse him, later if we don't. He takes a two to three hour nap in the afternoon, unless he's declared it a "no nap day." It happens... sometimes.
Okay. Let the tar and feathering commence!
I don't deserve any awards for being a "brilliant parent", nor do I want your praise. I can assure you, he didn't learn his sleeping habits from me. I am a raging insomniac.
If it's 3 am, chances are I'm haunting the house or worse, shopping online. It can't be helped. I've tried yoga and breathing exercises. I've tried just lying still in the dark. I've tried white noise and soft music. I've tried hot baths, reading, and reading in hot baths. We instituted a "no TV or Internet after bedtime" rule. (That was short-lived.)
I've even tried sleeping pills. Those backfired, by the way. I took some at 8:30 one night in the hope of being asleep by 9... Well, I guess they sort of worked. I was only up until 1 AM and woke up late and emotionally imbalanced the next morning. (read: Bitchy, clumsy, and slow)
I also tend to wake up in the middle of the night, and I'm not one to just fall back asleep. Nope. Nope. Nope. If I'm up, I'm up and pretty committed to staying that way. I'm told by my husband that once I do fall asleep (some time around the crack of dawn), I'm pretty committed to that, as well. I am unable to be awakened by anything except my son's cries... and even then, he has to really mean it.
You would think this type of behavior would have been detrimental to my career. As you can imagine, never being able to make it to an 8 am meeting on time has always been a "career limiting" flaw... that is, until my last job. My boss and I just happened to have the same "sleep issues" and neither one of us was ever really at work until around 9:30... okay, fiiiiine, 10. It was wonderful.
Motherhood, on the other hand, is not as forgiving. My husband is very sweet about taking care of our son's morning routine, thereby allowing me a few more minutes of precious, elusive, sumptuous sleep. Then, he leaves for work and hands off our son to me whether I'm up for it or not. I dread the coming school years when the last morning bell rings at 7:45 and my son has to be punished for his MOTHER being tardy every single morning.
I'm not writing this to scare my roomie at BlogHer. For you, I promise to be still and be quiet, even if I am wake and ready to go at 4 am. I also promise not to oversleep and make you miss any of the fun.
I'm writing this because it's 1:34 in the morning, I can't sleep, and there's no one else to talk to...
He has slept through the night and in his own crib since he was six weeks old. He goes to bed with little to no fuss after bath, books, and prayers and sleeps up to twelve hours (unless awaken by a nasty storm or our fastidious neighbor who insists on mowing his lawn at 6 am... on Sunday...) Otherwise, he wakes up between 8 and 8:30 in the morning if we rouse him, later if we don't. He takes a two to three hour nap in the afternoon, unless he's declared it a "no nap day." It happens... sometimes.
Okay. Let the tar and feathering commence!
I don't deserve any awards for being a "brilliant parent", nor do I want your praise. I can assure you, he didn't learn his sleeping habits from me. I am a raging insomniac.
If it's 3 am, chances are I'm haunting the house or worse, shopping online. It can't be helped. I've tried yoga and breathing exercises. I've tried just lying still in the dark. I've tried white noise and soft music. I've tried hot baths, reading, and reading in hot baths. We instituted a "no TV or Internet after bedtime" rule. (That was short-lived.)
I've even tried sleeping pills. Those backfired, by the way. I took some at 8:30 one night in the hope of being asleep by 9... Well, I guess they sort of worked. I was only up until 1 AM and woke up late and emotionally imbalanced the next morning. (read: Bitchy, clumsy, and slow)
I also tend to wake up in the middle of the night, and I'm not one to just fall back asleep. Nope. Nope. Nope. If I'm up, I'm up and pretty committed to staying that way. I'm told by my husband that once I do fall asleep (some time around the crack of dawn), I'm pretty committed to that, as well. I am unable to be awakened by anything except my son's cries... and even then, he has to really mean it.
You would think this type of behavior would have been detrimental to my career. As you can imagine, never being able to make it to an 8 am meeting on time has always been a "career limiting" flaw... that is, until my last job. My boss and I just happened to have the same "sleep issues" and neither one of us was ever really at work until around 9:30... okay, fiiiiine, 10. It was wonderful.
Motherhood, on the other hand, is not as forgiving. My husband is very sweet about taking care of our son's morning routine, thereby allowing me a few more minutes of precious, elusive, sumptuous sleep. Then, he leaves for work and hands off our son to me whether I'm up for it or not. I dread the coming school years when the last morning bell rings at 7:45 and my son has to be punished for his MOTHER being tardy every single morning.
I'm not writing this to scare my roomie at BlogHer. For you, I promise to be still and be quiet, even if I am wake and ready to go at 4 am. I also promise not to oversleep and make you miss any of the fun.
I'm writing this because it's 1:34 in the morning, I can't sleep, and there's no one else to talk to...
1 comment:
i've been watching babies most of my teenage years and i've been surrounded by numerous babies - cousins, lately by my own niece & nephew and now blessed with my daughter.
i think that different babies have different styles & personalities, and that includes sleeping style. My daughter has her moods, but she generally is out by 9.30pm, sleeps til 5.30 or 6.30, then wakes up at 8.30 or 9 because she's used to getting cleaned up at that time. sometimes she wakes up at 3 or 4am, then goes back to sleep til 9.
so i pretty much get a good night sleep too. and i know i'm lucky, cos who knows what our other kids (the ones we're planning for) might be like.
i say: enjoy it while you can!
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