Desperately needing sleep

OMG. I don't know what I am going to do after this baby arrives. I did not sleep AT ALL last night (ok, I slept a little but not much). Both kids were awake at least a few times, it was really cold outside and the heater kept going on and off, I'm mildly congested, etc. And now the kids aren't well rested either which should make for a fahbulous afternoon. It's like some little bastard sleep gnomes snuck in and messed with all of us.

I had my day all planned out as of last night and, I swear, I don't remember anything I was going to do. I feel so stoopid. I haven't been sleeping terribly well but this did me in and now I'm getting worried about the sleep deprivation. I'll be joining you soon, Jlynnb and Annie. :thud:

[DCJenn]

Well, when we open iMSNtopia, I think we'll have a seperate area for the sleep-deprived spouse.

and padded rooms for the cranky kiddos.

Until then, Ambien is OK for pregnant women? right? (my SIL was prescribed some when she went into labor and couldn't sleep)

Jenn

[Cumberland]

I am sorry Nellie.... sleeping while way pg gets harder and harder.

Annie why arent you sleeping? My almost 7m old DD is sleeping from 730-11p, then 11p til 430a, then 430 til around 7a. She is a boobie lover and is barely eating food although we are trying. I so want her to sleep longer! I will stop bc I am hijacking.

[Sheherezade]

My sympathies ladies. That sounds miserable all around.

I always just slept with the tots. I know it maybe leads to more trouble in the end.....but at least they slept. I think that's why they ended up back in my bed after any attempt to put them out of it before the age of two.

Have you tried sleeping during the day with the kids? Enforced family napping? (Another house strategy for sleep deprivation survival!) My only other idea is to shut down the house hours early before the night waking begins. I used to pull all the shades and turn out almost every light around 6 PM. If you speak in a whisper and keep everything electronic off, the kids think it's midnight. (we've even changed the clocks when they started to tell time. )

All that said....I know there is no solution, really. I think all of the MOMS should take the hotel rooms for the night. Forget the husbands. Sometimes one good night *alone* is all you need. (And Nellie....do it QUICK before nursing becomes an issue!)

[mommax3]

She can't turn off her hands. She keeps practicing all night...grasp, release, grasp, release, scratch, scratch, roll left, roll right, roll left, roll right. She wakes herself doing all this. She's been waking every 30-60 minutes. Really. This has been going on for 3 weeks now.

I think I've been too quick to go into her room and tuck her back in because DD1 is such a light sleeper. Her fussing wakes DD1 up and then I have a cranky, cranky toddler all day too. DH and I got into an argument last night because I wanted to let her cry and he wanted to just get her back to sleep. I ended up shoving him. Something's got to give. I'm telling him that I'm going to let her fuss tonight. He can get a motel room.
_________________

Oh Annie,

I could have written that post, twice. I can still remember how horrible it was, especially the second time (with my youngest) because I had a first grader and HAD to get up in the morning to get him off to school.

It finally took a night of DH sleeping on the hide-a-bed, checking on the baby when he cried, with me on the other side of the house with the door closed, oblivious to everything.

I also was known to have the baby sleep on his tummy so that he couldn't flail around quite as much, but I felt so guilty that I hardly got any sleep when I did that anyway. Honestly, the only reason we didn't have a year of sleeplessness with my oldest was that they weren't pushing the "back to sleep" thing very hard at that point, so I just had him sleep on his tummy and we were all happy.

Hang in there.

Sally

[Michele]

What is this sleep thing that you speak of?


Ever since Daegan started nursing well he's been sleeping less at night.....I keep telling myself it is a phase...this too shall pass....it'll be easier to day nap when Russ goes back to work and the in-laws are gone....

[Momo]

I would nurse DS heavily before putting him down for the night. I would wake him to nurse b4 I went to bed. I would then swaddle him and put him down...the swaddling worked well & so did a passy...he would sleep for over 4 hours sometimes 6. I was blessed w/ DD1 she would do a 6 hr stretch at night almost from the beginning!!! DD2 would go 4 hrs @ the most.
DS was the only one I swaddled for a long time(almost 5 mos) . DD1 I only swaddled for a month or so, I didn't swaddle DD2 at all. So to make the post longer you could always try swaddling for the wee ones that wake due to arm movements as long as they aren't over 5 mos !

Thanks for all the tips and encouragement. Thanks for not bitch-slapping me for hijacking your thread, Nellie.

That's ok. I hope you make some progress tonight.

At least I have a good chance of sleeping better tonight and only getting up for me. Today wasn't as bad as I expected. The kids did ok -- better than yesterday when Anna had the mother of all tantrums and while her head was spinning, peed all over me. With a little sleep and a half day of preschool, the potential for tomorrow seems limitless!

[Phoebe]

I hope everyone gets more sleep tonight.

[PrincessFiona]

I'm sprinkling sleeping dust on this thread....Sleeeeep, sleeeep to everyone!

Nellie...you're in the homestretch...hang in there!



kris

[houseelf]

May Santa bring Ambien (to all of your kids )

Sally, your admission about tummy sleeping hit close to home. For the same reasons that you specified, is why I coslept with each of my babies for their first year. I know this is highly controversial and I would wake up in a panic to check on them several times a night, but at least there was some small measure of sleep. My ILs basically tell me that cosleeping is tantamount to child abuse.

Anyway, cosleeping was my first fall from my image of how I thought that I would parent versus how I actually do parent. It's been an even further fall since then.

Kelly