lifeinlollyland

All of us parents do it, inevitably. We speak about how much/little sleep we are currently getting. I try not to dwell on it too much, otherwise I run the risk of falling into the trap of becoming obsessed with it. But we’ve hit some interesting new territory so I’m going to blog about it

Jessie has always been a pretty good night-time sleeper. She struggled during the day and has never slept as much as other kids her age. But I’m ok with that, I don’t need as much sleep as the average person. (Ok, when I’m pregnant its slightly different) Kyla seems to be pretty similar to Jessie in the sleep habits, unless she’s teething. But Jack… Jack has always been different. He would nap well during the day as long as he was held. But nights have always been another story!

At the age of 1, he was still feeding anywhere from 8-14times a night. (yes, I became obsessed for a while and counted) he struggled to fall back to sleep. At 19months he stopped feeding. At this stage, he began to cling to B at night. He wanted sweet-nothing to do with me in the middle of the night and would scream for B. (he still does) So for the past 18months, B has had to put up with being punched, kicked, head-butted, pushed and man-handled at night. B and I have both suffered with this. See, I can handle lack of sleep, B struggles. He needs his sleep!

Things did improve after we had his tonsils and adenoids removed. Suddenly he was sleeping better. He went from waking 8+ times to waking 2 or 3 times. This was amazing for us! We were thrilled! But he still continued to need B at night. We tried a host of night-time tactics from discipline, to special sleep toys, nothing worked. All he wanted was his daddy.

We’ve been debating and preparing to put him in his own room for a few weeks now. Somehow we just haven’t gotten there. We went away over the weekend and we pushed 2 beds together for the older sprogs to sleep in. They both slept all night! Jack woke once, b went through and patted him and he went straight back to sleep! It was phenomenal.

We decided to try the same approach here at home. Its been going pretty well. B has had to sleep with him once, but on the whole he seems to be handling the transition pretty well So jessie and jack now share a room but are each in their own bed. They’re going to sleep a little later, as they play for a while before falling asleep. But isn’t that what sharing a room is about?

I don’t know what will happen from 1 night to the next. But we will keep on keeping on. As long as we all sleep, and are rested it doesn’t bother me who sleeps where.

Kyla is now in her own bed and she’s doing pretty well. She is highly possessive of it. Don’t even think about lying and cuddling somebody else on her bed! She will shout at you and tell you no, off (which in Kyla speak is “mo! Ooohhf”)

Our room feels rather empty without jack and his bed here. Luckily #4 is on the way. And we can sneak into their room anytime we want to for a little night-time snuggling

***update***
Exactly 3 years and 1month since the day Jack was born, he slept through for the first time . We know it won’t happen every night, but it does give us a beacon of hope