Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Stay asleep Constance!

I accidentally posted about 11 draft posts earlier today! I have a tendency to write things and leave them unfinished and so when I went to delete them, I pressed the publish button insteand. OOPS! So, I am sorry for taking up your blogrolls. :(

Constance's sleeping habits have been just awful lately. Her naps are fantastic, that I can say. She sleeps about 2-3 hours during the day and seems to get plenty of rest. For a while there, she was sleeping from 8:30pm-8am and not waking up at all at night. However, a few months ago she got sick and ever since then she's been up two to three times a night. Lastnight she was up every two hours on the dot! Something I don't miss about her newborn days.

By the time 4am rolled around, I just kept her in bed with me. I knew Joshua needed rest for work and I couldn't keep waking up like that. Silly girl slept the rest of the morning.

Obviously she's going to like sleeping with us more, because it's more comforting and familiar. However, I don't want to co-sleep. I like bedtime to be just for my husband and I. I also like to sprawl out, something that is impossible with my Constance who also sprawls out! You'd think her little body wouldn't take much space; wrong!

She has a monkey that she takes everywhere except for bed. She normally gets bored with monkey by the time bedtime rolls around, so we don't see any need for putting it in bed with her. However, I am thinking that maybe monkey will be a comfort to her when she wakes up? This monkey is a lifesaver with babysitters ... as the past few times I have left her, she has actually been able to fall asleep just holding/chewing on it. So maybe the same could work with night waking?

Constance with her monkey at about 3 months old. She didn't really care either way about monkey then, but a few weeks ago it became her sidekick!

Maybe that's a silly idea, but silly ideas are common when you are a parent and desperate for a solution. And a full night's sleep.

I have also been making sure she's eating enough during the day. I've noticed in times past that if she doesn't eat a lot during the day, she'll make up for it at night. However, I don't think that is the issue!

She does go to sleep on her own at night fairly well. Some nights she just rolls on her side and falls asleep. Others she may cry herself to sleep. I don't let her go over ten minutes crying before we go in and pat her belly to soothe her. So getting her to sleep isn't the problem. It's just continuing sleep.

Maybe I'll just have to bite the bullet this weekend and try cry-it-out on her night feedings. Who knows.

All advice welcome. :)

1 comment:

  1. I don't think it's a silly idea at all. Many children need to sleep with a "lovey" or comfort item. It's something they can reach for in the middle of the night and something familiar.

    We gave Hayden his lovey bear when he was 6 months old (ever since he started sleeping through the night) and he can't sleep without it now. Even now at 3 (I'm pretty sure he'll be bring it to Kindgergarten with him, haha!) we give him his lovey and he flips to his side and tell us "Night Night".

    Our friend's child is also 3 and had started sleeping with his stuffed monkey around 6 months.

    I would try it! ;-)

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Thanks for reading my post! & God bless! :)