Sleep has been difficult to come by ever since I was pregnant with Peach - about 4.5 years ago! That is a long time to have sleepless nights. The reason? Well, there was about 18 months or so of puking my guts out when I was pregnant (2 kids x 9 months each). Then, once they were born, the sleep situation got even worse. It has always been changing as our kids grew - but it has always been rough.
Putting the kids to bed can sometimes be a 4 hour ordeal. They have frequent awakenings during the night. Something has to give. This week DH has been out of town. He is a more of a softy than I am when it comes to our kids and would have a tough time with Pen crying. I read this article and decided this was a good week to get Pen (my now 17 month old) sleeping in her own space. One quote from that article: "By the age of 1, they should be sleeping 12 overnight hours in a row," Ha!!! I must surely be doing something wrong!!!
It was hard at first. She cried in her pack and play. I stayed nearby so she could see me. Eventually, she fell asleep by herself! Each day she put up less and less of a fuss. If we keep this up, I may have a little time to myself in the evenings. I still have to lose the nighttime wake-ups. Perhaps that will be next week? Ha! It is never that easy. ...but a 17 month old should be able to sleep through the night. It is not like she is a few weeks old and has a tiny tummy. Part of me feels selfish for doing a little sleep training. I try and justify it by saying that I am a better mom if I get time to myself and enough sleep. I only half believe that justification...
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