One sleep deprived mom...

The sleep situation in my house is not good. My youngest son who is almost 2 years old has climbed out of his crib ever since he was 19 months old. Up until that point, he slept great in his crib. We would lay him down and he would put himself to sleep. We had gone to Colorado for a week when Caden was 19 months to visit family. During our stay all four of us shared a king size bed. HUGE mistake! Who would have thought that one week would ruin his good sleep habits? When we came home, the little stinker would not have anything to do with his crib. We would lay him down and he was just cry and cry and cry. We tried for weeks every technique out there to try and get him to love his crib again, but I think he was truly afraid of his crib. So, the day came that my little man, my baby transitioned to a big boy bed. I was in tears! He is growing up way to fast! Well, he absolutely loves his bed. He thinks he is hot stuff like his 3 year old brother who is in a big boy bed. The problem is he won't STAY in his bed. I know you all are thinking this is normal, but to us it's not normal, which I'll get to in a second. Now, we read him a story about 50 times, or we make a story up, or we sing to him until he falls asleep. It now takes us an hour to get him to sleep at nap time and at bedtime. So, two hours a day is trying to get him to sleep. Two hours is a chunk of time when there isn't enough hours out of the day as it is. He wakes up in the middle of the night a half dozen times and crawls in our bed. We take him back to his bed, lay down with him until he falls asleep again and then head back to bed. It is a very tiring process.

Now I will explain what has been normal to us for the past 3 1/2 years. Our oldest son Alex has ALWAYS had excellent sleep habits when it comes to going to sleep on his own. Ever since he was a baby we could lay him down and he would put himself to sleep on his own. We put him in a big boy bed when he was 2 and he has never once gotten out of bed. In fact, he actually stays in his bed until we come and get him. When we put Caden in a big boy bed, we just assumed he would stay in his bed like Alex does. We were so wrong! Although Alex stays in his bed, he has his own sleep problem. Ever since he was a little over a year, he rocks and sings himself to sleep. It's very comforting to him, such as a child who wants a pacifier or blanket to fall asleep. We don't mind the rocking, but the singing can be soooooooo loud. He will sing just about anything to go to sleep. Since it has been Christmas time, we will hear Jingle Bells and Frosty the Snowman over and over and over again until he falls asleep. He also wakes up in the middle of the night and to put himself back to sleep he rocks and sings. He will do this for hours if we let him. Usually, we just go in his room, tell him to relax and he will stop. A lot of times we have to lay down with him until he falls asleep. I think the rocking alone deserves it's own blog so I will write about this subject again later.

So, there you have it. I know being a mom you are going to have a lot of sleepless nights, but my husband and I dream of having a straight 8 hours of sleep again. Will it ever happen? We could easily co-sleep with them and our dreams would come true. I do LOVE cuddling with them, don't get me wrong, but personally I think it's important to cuddle with my husband at night. I want them to be able to sleep on their own for many reasons. So, if anyone out there has any advice for me or if you want to share your own sleepless night problems, I would love to hear from you.