Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Peaceful Sleep

Sleep is something that was not happening in this house until maybe a month or so ago... life was always tired for me and I knew some things needed to change. Let me explain...

When Baker was born...he didn't sleep. He never liked it. Typical newborn for sure though, slept when being held, but lay him down and awake we would be. I didn't care much at first...I just figured he would get it eventually. We tried everything, he would sleep with me, we would put him in the crib, the swing, whatever it took but he would NEVER sleep long. At about 8/9 months old he had the nap thing down! Praise the Lord he would take two good naps a day. I could lay him down and he would fall asleep (believe me, we worked on it). Night time was a different story...he would wake up 2/3 times a night to nurse...I didn't mind. At about 12 months I decided he didn't need to be getting up in the middle of the night to nurse anymore...he was a big boy! He ate three meals a day...plus snacks and still liked to nurse. At 14 months, night nursing was completely done! This was crazy for me because Jacob was done nursing at night by 8 months (his own choice). I figured Baker would eventually get it just like Jacob did, but he NEVER did...he loved nursing in the middle of the night! We had to work with him a lot to cut out those feedings (which is a story for another day). So at 14 months old he was done nursing at night...but that didn't mean that he was sleeping through the night :)! He would still wake up and just cry (not every night, but enough for sure).... at first we would just let him cry and after a while he would fall back asleep. And then, for a month or so he WAS sleeping through the night...a miracle for sure :) Then, he started waking up again... and I would go in there and rock him back to sleep (what was I thinking?!?!?) Then EVERY night he would wake up and want me to rock him...this child is almost 18 months...is this normal ?????? So, we had to let him cry AGAIN (which is honestly the WORST)...but this time he would just scream for me. It was horrible! Jacob and Baker shared a room so he started waking Jacobean up. I would go in there to get Jacob and Baker would see me and get MORE upset. And believe it or not he starting THROWING himself out of the crib. It was miserable, scary, frustrating...etc.!

So this it what we did...We split them up. It was sad...but they will share a room again someday:) We purchased a crib tent so little Baker bear wouldn't try to kill himself anymore and we just let him be. Now they both sleep so peacefully. Baker sleeps from 7:30 to 7:15 every night...with limited interruptions (I mean 95% he doesn't get up at all) and if he does wake up he goes right back to sleep! And Jacob is sleeping peacefully as well....and they are both HAPPY boys when the wake up! And I am a happy mom because I am FINALLY (after 18 months...CRAZY I know) getting a full nights rest!

Sleep is a beautiful thing! With children God's grace is abundant, especially when it comes to limited sleep. But seriously at 18 months in this house we should ALL be sleeping and receiving God's grace in other areas :) Next time I will do things differently for sure! But this whole saga did show me that all children are different and something that comes easy to one child might and probably will be completely different with another.

I look forward to night now... and seeing my beautiful boys in the morning after a good nights rest!

3 comments:

Andrea said...

Kari! Oh my goodness I could SO relate to this post! My youngest is 18 months also and after weaning she slept great on her own. For a while.
Now, she wakes up every night at midnight with out fail wanting to come to my bed!
As much as I hate to admit it, I love that she comes to snuggle with me, and she doesn't keep me awake anymore... not like some of my other girls did!
My 3 year old did that whole thing where she flung herself out of the crib! That's so scary! I haven't seen the crib tent, but I'll have to remember that for the next baby!!!
I found myself nodding in agreement with your whole post! lol After four babies right in a row, I've never gone this long without another pregnancy or infant, so this new found sleep thing is SO exciting!!!

Kelly Jo said...

Me too--my little buddy was like Baker--he just LOVED seeing Mommy all night long. Once he weaned himself at 14 months he FINALLY started sleeping through the night after a couple nights of us "ignoring" him (worst nights ever). I love sleep. I wish someone had told me to enjoy it more before I got married (though I probably wouldn't have listened).

Caitlin said...

I am so happy that you are all finally getting great sleep. It really does make such a difference!!!