It does get better!

[LCB]

Hello everyone.  I don't spend much time on MDC anymore but I wanted to pop in here and say that it can and will get better!  My DD is now three and a half.  She just recently started sleeping through the night, eleven hours, in her own bed.  She will get up to pee in the potty in the middle of the night, flush, and go back to bed on her own.  We are finally there! 

Just to give you some background, this child darn near killed me with sleep deprivation.  She nursed all night sometimes, as in never unlatched.  I used to wish that she would nurse every hour like I heard the other moms talking about, because then at least she would unlatch in between nursings.  So for a long time I slept on my side, facing my daughter, with my boob out and her latched on.  I was all touched out ALL the time.  She was demanding and difficult.  She never napped.  She wouldn't sleep unless I was in the bed with her.  There would be stretches of time when she did not sleep even at night with me there.  I once went five nights without really sleeping and the sleep deprivation was so bad that my digestive system shut down and I could not eat or swallow.  I fell down the stairs because I was too tired to walk.  I was depressed, anxious, and unhappy.  Because of her, I had panic attacks when I found out that I was pregnant with my second baby.  Ladies, it was bad.  Real bad.

So hang in there everyone.  This is the post that I wanted and needed to read when she was a baby, and so here I am posting it.  The worst sleeper in the world CAN grow up to be a toddler or kid who sleeps like a rock.  Do whatever it takes to survive, tie your knot and hang on, and it will end.  Good luck!

[Redmom]

Thanks for posting and so glad to hear your DD is now sleeping well and you are getting some much needed rest.

Hope your next one turns out to be one of these miracle sleepers that I hear about.

Just to add your great news, our DS is 14 months and has always woken every 2 hours or so.  A couple of improvements for us:

- Lately we are able to lay him down on the bed at the start of the night, lie with him and sing to him and he will fall asleep (we used to have to rock him until he was completely asleep).

- The other night he slept all the way through till 5am.

- Most nights now he will sleep a 4 or 5 hour stretch.

- Most nights when he wakes he is easy to settle and goes back to sleep quickly.

More good news stories please!

[Redmom]

PS

Just wondering if you "did" anything to help encourage your DS to sleep better?

Or do you think she just got better on her own?

[LCB]

Honestly, we didn't really do much that helped. I tried everything under the sun. I night weaned her at 22 months because I was pregnant.  That helped somewhat, at least because then her daddy could help her just as much as I could.  Mostly though, it was time and maturity.  She goes to preschool now and is busy during the day and is old enough to understand that when she's tired, she needs to sleep etc.  Now my second baby will be turning one shortly and she's a decent sleeper.  Not awesome, but not as bad her older sister was!!