Your own sleep habits once your DC starts sleeping better

[mamacolleen]

For those of you with children who used to be terrible sleepers and who are now relatively consistently sleeping through most nights, how long did it take you to get your own sleep habits back on track and what did you do to encourage that?

DD has been sleeping through for about a month now and to be honest, I feel more tired most days and less able to sleep now than I did when she was waking up all through the night. I find I can get to sleep okay but I wake up (wide awake!) multiple times a night and it's rare that I feel like I'm actually getting really nourishing restful sleep. I have restless fitful meaningless dreams. It's frustrating because, when DD wasn't sleeping well, I totally fantasized about all the sleep I would eventually get as a way to get me through those nights and now I feel cheated!

Things I currently try: Going to bed early. Going to bed later. No screen time a couple hours before bed. Quiet reading for pleasure. No showers before bed. The occasional dose of melatonin. Napping when DD naps. Not napping when DD naps.

FWIW, we do still co-sleep, although DD spends most of the night in her side-carred crib and only cuddles close at the end of the night.

Will I eventually be able to sleep properly again? What else can I try to help me sleep better now that DD is?

[Surfer Rosa]

Watching this with great interest, as my 5.5 year old is finally STTN too!  I'm currently trying new things too, but I'm thinking it'll be a couple more months for me to sort it out, and I'm remembering that I wasn't a great sleeper to start with...

[mamacolleen]

Well we must be the only ones!

I'm just finding myself more exhausted and less able to focus in the day and be the mama I want to than when she was up lots at night. It's depressing.

I really wish I could figure this out.

[Surfer Rosa]

There was an interesting article in the NYT recently about a sleep study they'd done with seniors, involving behavioral therapy instead of meds. Apparently more than 2/3 of people were sleeping well if they followed the rules (and when the study followed up again later on, more than 50% were still sleeping well). There are four rules...

"The idea is to stick to a schedule that maximizes your “sleep efficiency” — the amount of time in bed you spend sleeping, instead of tossing and hoping that sleep will descend. That involves four rules: Reduce the time spent in bed. Get up at the same time every day. Don’t go to bed until you feel sleepy. Don’t stay in bed if you’re not sleeping."

http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/23/simple-rules-for-better-sleep/

Sounds like it takes time to readjust. All of my friends with older kids said that it wasn't until their youngest was FIVE that they felt like normal people again. Eep!