Tuesday, January 27, 2015

up all night....a different perspective to parenting.....

I dont post a lot, partly because im busy (lol), partly because im hesitant to share 'too much' online. But this one needs to be said.

Any parent of 2+ will tell you every child is different.  They learn different ways and at different paces, they react differently...and they SLEEP differently. My oldest (8) has NEVER slept through the night. Not a huge deal or a medical concern, she really just relocates. Comes and finds mom or dad and goes back to sleep, even if she goes back to her bed. Of course this could be because we co-slept for the first few.....or 5 years. She likes to know we are there. My second(6) never liked co-sleeping. It wasnt happening. By 6 months she had to be in HER bed, in HER room by 8pm or someone would pay. She slept through the night from then on. She doesnt 'relocate', shes asleep allllllll night. My third(4) is kind of inbetween. Usually he sleeps all night, occasionally he has a bad dream or accident and wakes up. It was a nice balance. We got sleep even if multiple children, and dogs, were in our bed by midnight;)

Then came our fourth(2). Because of medical issues, she just never developed a 'normal' sleep pattern. Feeding tubes, apnea monitors, hospital stays. I dont think she equates nighttime with sleep. Tired=sleep time. If it happens to coincide with darkness thats good, if not thats ok too. 22 hours a day crying the first 6-10 weeks, sleeping in a chair in the nursery to be close by......Sleep kind of became a thing of the past for me. (My husband is lucky enough to be able to sleep through natural disasters, but at least one of us gets sleep lol) Add in trying to run a business in addition to a household of 6....yeah.....

So its been a struggle....She goes to bed around 8, and wakes up 3 hours later ready to play for 4-5 more hours. Shes just NOT tired. (And we limit sugar, she doesnt get caffeine and DOES get melatonin some nights...Its not something we are doing, its just her.) Fighting, begging, bribing....Done it all. After all, mommy is tired. But recently, Ive had a different approach...

Now, we bond. Last night we had chips and guacamole....in bed...while reading books. Sure mommy was tired, but a cup of tea took care of that. She was happy. Then she went back to sleep. She woke up and she was happy. And after all, mommy can sleep during Paw Patrol easily;)~  Now eventually she will have to learn to sleep through the night...It could be tonight since she fell asleep using the potty at seven. (As a good mom, of course i snapped pics before putting her in bed lol).

One day soon she will older, bigger, more mature. She wont want to play with mommy. So whether that impulse hits at noon or midnight, I will be there to play. I should also add that her new favorite sentence (to me) is "Mommy, I wub you soooooooo much. You is my bestest mommy." Pretty sure im wrapped tightly around that little finger.