My hourly waker, bounce & rock to sleep baby...

[Louisep]

Is now a toddler who sleeps through the night, not always, but sometimes. And when he doesn't STTN, he wakes once or twice, scoots his bum backwards until we're spooning, then goes back to sleep. And I don't give one hoot that he doesn't STTN all the time.

A year ago I never thought I'd make it this far - I thought I'd collapse in a heap from sleep exhaustion or depression. But I'm so glad in retrospect that we continued to make gentle parenting to sleep choices.

Hang in there mamas of 8, and 9, and 10 month olds; it's going to get better just around the corner.

[AndtheStars]

Thanks, Louise! You and Katie (LadyCatherine) are my inspirations at 3 am when DS is driving me batty. I know that things will get better but it's so, so hard to see the end when you are so, so tired. My temper is so short and the days (and nights, for that matter) are so long. Snuggling with mama to go back to sleep sounds so much nicer than nursing, hair-pulling, kicking, head-butting, kamikaze dives off the bed, fussing, crying, tossing, turning, fingers in nose and ears, pinching Mama to go back to sleep.

[SarahDC]

Thanks mama!

[Tway]

Originally Posted by dicksonley

Thanks, Louise! You and Katie (LadyCatherine) are my inspirations at 3 am when DS is driving me batty. I know that things will get better but it's so, so hard to see the end when you are so, so tired. My temper is so short and the days (and nights, for that matter) are so long. Snuggling with mama to go back to sleep sounds so much nicer than nursing, hair-pulling, kicking, head-butting, kamikaze dives off the bed, fussing, crying, tossing, turning, fingers in nose and ears, pinching Mama to go back to sleep.

Wow--I could have written exactly the same thing, except it's my DD who pulls my hair and sometimes gets the short end of my frayed temper.

And yes, let me second the thanks for this post! There are nights where, I swear, I'm writing out a long, whiny post to MDC in my head, rattling on and on about how DD won't sleep and how I'm losing it and that I'm going to flee to a beach in Cuba by myself one of these days... It's so comforting to hear that it will, one day, get better.

[Louisep]

Originally Posted by Tway

There are nights where, I swear, I'm writing out a long, whiny post to MDC in my head, rattling on and on about how DD won't sleep and how I'm losing it and that I'm going to flee to a beach in Cuba by myself one of these days...

hehe!

But seriously, the middle of the night is just horrible isn't it? You feel so isolated. I used to remind myself of all the other stories I had read on MDC and that I wasn't the only mama awake losing it.

You're all being amazing mothers!

[doulawoman]

really??!!??

It's nearly two am. Dh and I have taken turns bouncing our 7 mo since midnight....I just don't understand why it's THIS hard...I also bounce her for her naps, and 99.9% of the time her entire nap is on me, bouncing, so I don't really get to ever catch up sleep...but maybe I can do this.