After over a year of hourly wakings and bedtime tantrums with DS1, I hoped, nay, BELIEVED my second would have better sleep patterns. Because what are the odds we could have TWO who refused to sleep, right?
As DS2 reaches his four-month birthday, I am realizing how naive I really was. We go to him at least a half dozen times after putting him down following rocking/nursing him to sleep for the night. Climb into bed, and it is 30-minute wake-up calls all night long.
For the past few weeks, I had been beside myself. How can this be? How are we here ... AGAIN? I suffered a nervous breakdown, in fact, crying on the bathroom floor in a sleep deprived balled-up mess. Worse, I became angry at my early-smiling, terrificly engaging little boy.
I needed to be grounded. I needed a boost to remind myself that it is all temporary. Normal even. I needed to know I was not alone.
So ... every night before I go to bed, I scan the Nighttime Parenting threads. I read nearly every post that aches for help, begs for encouragement, wonders, "Why oh why ...?" The wonderful words from mothers making smart (if not difficult) choices for the sake of a gentle nighttime routine - this is my therapy, my touchstone. And so when I'm up again, at the 30-minute interval mark I feel just a little bit stronger than the night before.
Like I might just survive yet another year of this mind-numbing nighttime dance.
Thanks, mamas, for sharing all your stories and your wisdom.
As DS2 reaches his four-month birthday, I am realizing how naive I really was. We go to him at least a half dozen times after putting him down following rocking/nursing him to sleep for the night. Climb into bed, and it is 30-minute wake-up calls all night long.
For the past few weeks, I had been beside myself. How can this be? How are we here ... AGAIN? I suffered a nervous breakdown, in fact, crying on the bathroom floor in a sleep deprived balled-up mess. Worse, I became angry at my early-smiling, terrificly engaging little boy.
I needed to be grounded. I needed a boost to remind myself that it is all temporary. Normal even. I needed to know I was not alone.
So ... every night before I go to bed, I scan the Nighttime Parenting threads. I read nearly every post that aches for help, begs for encouragement, wonders, "Why oh why ...?" The wonderful words from mothers making smart (if not difficult) choices for the sake of a gentle nighttime routine - this is my therapy, my touchstone. And so when I'm up again, at the 30-minute interval mark I feel just a little bit stronger than the night before.
Like I might just survive yet another year of this mind-numbing nighttime dance.
Thanks, mamas, for sharing all your stories and your wisdom.
s Mama
