A year ago, I posted The Night Shift – it was all about our immense struggle with sleep and how I felt about it all. So, I thought since it’s been a year we should have a little update!
I’ll answer the pending question first:
Has she slept through yet?
No she hasn’t and to be honest I don’t expect to her too. Just ask yourself, do you sleep through the entire night? Honestly, it’d be a miracle if we adults do, we either stir and change sides, get up to go to the toilet or have a sip of water or there might be some moments in the night you stare at the ceiling hoping to get back to sleep.
Children go through the same process at night but the difference is that they don’t know what to do with themselves, so they cry or scream to be quite exact.
They scream for you because you’re their safe haven.
Yes, there are babies who sleep through and have no struggles and congratulations to those parents of them but many don’t until much later on and I’ve come to accept that it’s normal.
The past year we have been through many changes regarding sleep. I started work in May and realised I was pretty much a zombie at work which wasn’t healthy at all. Adding that to the heatwave this country suffered from lead to A not being a happy bunny at all at night.
Additionally, she developed great hatred for her cot, she’d cry and flap her hands about when being lowered into it – she’d never had any issues settling herself to sleep in her cot before so this felt like a major step back.
I then resorted to bringing her in bed with me when she was around 18 months I think which eventually turned her into sleeping in my bed from the beginning of the night. She still didn’t sleep through but it meant that I didn’t have to keep on getting up at least.
This carried on for three months.
Eventually, I decided that we’ll pack away the cot and we will just have to bed share. I bought a bed guard large enough for our double bed and we packed away the cot.
Then my heart sank.
I don’t know what it is with us mums and our hormones but I just did not like the thought and the sight of her cot not being there! So back up the cot went much to my husband’s amusement, of course.
Then I was given some advice by loved ones to follow and we haven’t looked back since. We have the cot bed at its highest setting with one side off – we’ve basically turned it into a next to me, rest assured we’ve taken safety measures and she is not at any risk!
Little A has actually been quite happy about the change. She has her own space but at the same time she’s close to me too so it’s a win win situation for both of us!
Moreover, there’s another more dominant reason for her not sleeping well at night and that’s teething because when she is disturbed during the night, it’s her literally moaning in her sleep.
I’m pretty confident that once she gets all of her teeth and molars through, we won’t be struggling at night or at least not much because she does have the capability of sleeping for long periods at a time, which she has proven time to time for example sleeping from 7:30pm to 1:30am without a peep sometimes and even sleeping through the fireworks which actually woke me up!
Other pending questions:
Why not move her into a toddler bed?
The only time I will change the cot to a bed is once she is in her own room as it’s going to be an unsuitable scenario for my room.
When is she going into her own room?
Currently, the plan is towards the end of this year when she’s that much older and around 3 years old. I’m in no hurry to move her so may not even stick to this plan but we will see how it goes. To be quite fair, I’m just not ready for that change yet.
I’ve heard people say that children end up sleeping better once they’re in their own room but I don’t believe in that. I know parents who still struggle with sleep once they’re child is in their own room too.
All of this just goes to show that each child is different – what one child does, it’d be unfair to expect the same from another.
Nevertheless, I’m just tackling each night as it comes, I’ve stopped going to sleep thinking perhaps tonight is the night because when you do think that your hopes come crashing down!
I’ve told myself to just see the positive side of it all because it won’t be long until she’d want to actually sleep and I’d want her up for a certain time!
Oh the school mornings when you want your child to be up but they have other plans.. only a year and a bit left!
I'm glad you have found something that works well for both you and Little A. It sounds like she is happy in your room, especially as she even slept through fireworks! Hope you both continue to get a good nights sleep, and aww that is such a sweet photo, thanks for sharing Soffy! <3 xx
Bexa | http://www.hellobexa.com