A study in sleeplessness.

D: Ember doesn't sleep anyway, so we wouldn't be out anything. Easton will...he's a champ. :)

K: Still not sleeping good huh? Is it possible she just needs less that the experts say? I have one like that ;)

D: That's not the problem. She was up 7 times last night, no joke.

And only napped for 1.5 hours TOTAL all day yesterday.

K: Oh wow. The up-lots-of-times-at-night thing sucks big time. When Gage was little like that, I'd sometimes just turn on the TV for him so I could sleep on the couch.

Is she upset when she's awake? Or just wants to be awake?

D:  She's tired. She goes back to sleep. Sometimes within 2 minutes, sometimes within 12 minutes. She just keeps. waking. up.

K: She looks so alert and curious, I just wonder if she's too excited about exploring and playing to sleep.

D: She cries. She's tired.

She hates David between 9pm and 7 am.

K: And she needs you to put her back to sleep.

Ouch, yeah Gage only wanted me at night too. Because Jack didn't mess around - he'd make him go back to sleep. It usually helped him sleep better though.

D: Mostly, yes. Last night she did let him comfort her twice.

Me the other 5 times.

K: And she won't put herself back to sleep? We did let Gage 'cry it out' a few times. After 3-4 days it worked really well and he'd sleep fine. For 3-4 days.

D: I did a trial "cry it out" at naptime on Wednesday. Fail fail fail.

It took me twice as long to get her calmed down as it would've otherwise taken me to just put her to sleep.

K: Right. Gage too when he was little like that. :(

D: Going to sleep isn't usually the problem...rock for a few minutes + pacifier and she's asleep (as long as she's tired and ready for nap).

K: I really have no good advice. We struggled with Gage for a really long time. I thought it was us. I really thought we'd screwed him up for life (and I suppose the jury is still out on that...) and we were awful parents. It really made us think twice about wanting more kids.

Max is SO different. He has been from day 1.

I truly think its more about their wiring and internal clocks. The baby sleep experts just have good sleepers to raise. ;)

D: I agree. I'm not even going to pick up a book or google more ideas. I've tried what I think will work and I guess we'll just have to tough it out in the meantime. I'm going to try a few things over the weekend, but I'm not going to ruin my life over it.

We'll get there.

K: We messed with every variable: light, sound, temperature, sleep atmosphere, nighttime routine, you name it. The only thing that worked: turning 4.

If you need a break, Koreen swears she's being honest when she tells me that he has ALWAYS slept perfectly there. He might get up once, but usually just sleeps right on through the night. And later in the morning than he EVER has for me.

Maybe your mom would be interested in trying her for a night, even if just to give you a break and the chance at a good night's sleep. I always felt bad asking her to watch him, but she says even when he was little he's slept so good there.

D: I might have Mom come a night and use a bottle if she has to. I'm not certain it's not the nursing she wants. The most I'll feed her during the night is twice, and it's usually when I can't stand the thought of getting up again. She'll typically sleep 3 hours after I feed her.

K: If I was there, I'd take her. We'd get along just fine :) I think maybe she's just wired with a personality like mine. Lucky YOU!

D: Then we should get along great for the rest of our lives. ;)

K: Well that is interesting. She can't possibly be hungry ALL night long.

Max did eat every 2 hours, but I stopped  that when he was 6 months old. Was I freaking nuts or what? lol

D: Last night I nursed her @ 8:00, fed her cereal at 8:30 (a big bowl), and let her drink a bottle at 8:45 (she drank almost 4 oz.). There's no WAY she's hungry.

K: She eating good at daycare? The boys both cluster fed...I felt like sometimes all I did between pickup and bedtime was feed them. Gage was even worse.  

D: Her 9 month appointment is Monday. I'll talk to Dr. Jeanne about it. She'll ask if I can let her cry it out. When I say no, she'll smile and say she couldn't do it either. Then she'll make sure there's nothing medically wrong, tell me I'm a good mom, and send me home with hopeful thoughts.

K: OMG, this is great birth control. Ask me more questions about raising newborns. lol

D: She usually drinks 4 or 5 oz. bottles there. That's pretty normal for her.

;)Just don't spend the day with her. You'll want 6 of her. You must stay past 10pm. ;)

K: How's this mystery fever?

or warm body I guess?

D: I think it was the thermometer. I bought a different one and she hasn't had a fever at all...although I'm wondering if that one will EVER read a fever. Ha! I know I had a fever with my last cold and it read normal. Oh well. On the ear thermometer Ember's normal temp. reads 99.2, so I just figure it out from there if she has a fever or not. That's my theory anyway. :)

Go Dr. D.!

A Lot of Catching Up To Do

Flashback to 6 months ago and our 'typical' night:
-Put Max to bed 8:30-9pm in his crib. Leaps from our arms to get into bed. Doesn't make a sound when we leave the room.
-Read books to Gage.
-Get Gage a snack.
-Get Gage a drink.
-Read more books to Gage.
-Let Gage watch an episode of chosen show (Dora, Diego, Dinosaur Train, The Cat in the Hat, etc.)
-Tell Gage, one more episode.
-Gage falls asleep on the couch sometime between 9:30pm and 11:30pm
-Carry him to bed.
-Crash and burn in my own bed.
-Sleep for a few hours to wake to Gage screaming through a nightmare.
-Calm him down, get him a drink, put him back to bed. Takes anywhere from 60 seconds to 15 minutes depending on severity of nightmare.
-Sleep for a few hours to wake to another nightmare from Gage.
-He crawls in our bed, I wake up at some point and stumble to the couch for the remainder of the night.
-Gage up for the day at 6am.
-Max up for the day about 7am.

I understand that there are approximately 746 things we did wrong, but honestly I didn't have the energy to deal with it. I had been shorted my nightly sleep for 4 years and we had tried everything recommended or claiming to work. Temporary success at best.

Here's how it went down tonight.
-8:30, I get home from taking rodeo entries. Knowing my kiddos haven't seen me all day we visited until 8:45 when I tell Gage that he has 15 minute to finish up what he wants.
-8:50 he comes to get his pajamas. Change him and Max into PJs, fill water cups.
-8:52, Max wants to "nuggle a bit" and is stalling (be it ever so slightly).
-8:53, Gage from the top bunk, "I'm sleepy. Can you turn off the light?"
-Grab Max's blanket and binky, lay in his toddler bed to "nuggle a bit".
-9:00, Cover Max up, walk out, close the door. He cries for 15 seconds and then silence.

We've had a similar scenario for a couple of months now.

Crap. We did it. My four year old sleeps through the night.

Sure he sleeps with two stuffed PBR bulls and a stuffed cow to protect him from nightmares. Sure he insists on being covered up with a quilt I found at a garage sale for 50 cents. Sure he still get up between 5:45am and 7am. But he lets me sleep all night. And for that, I am thankful.

How did we do it?

I have no idea.