bedtime

Update: after the first couple of nights A has been a dream with the bed, in fact the only problem now is stopping her from getting in it while she's still fully dressed! Once she worked out that she could get herself up in the morning she was delighted, and will happily play in her room for half an hour before coming to find us.

Woah Nice! Did you do anything differently or was it just a matter of getting used to it?

We didn't do anything different, just kept bunging her in and hoping for the best! She does have a wall on one side of her which I think has helped.

Howie went into his big bed on Saturday! So far so good, apart from a slight confusion about duvets and the use thereof (cue screams at 1am of "Mummy! Mummmeeeee! I WANT IT ON!!!!!!!!!" as one leg is ever so slightly sticking out from under the duvet). And pillows seem to be for sleeping next to, not on:

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_Q2cuqOo8v8M/SpKMEamSoWI/AAAAAAAAMJc/scOPXA4Kaes/s800/photo.jpg

I'd like one week of uninterrupted sleep. I got two nights of sleep! But last night was just horrendous. I didn't sleep from one till 4. ARGH. When will this stop? I really need my sleep back. :-(

how's it going?

how old are yours again? have they always been trouble at night?

dudes. 5 days of henry sleeping from 10 - 7am. Actually he woke at 5 this morning but he did sleep until 8:30am to make up for it earlier in the week. hes kind of a champ for a 7 week old

Wow you must breed good sleepers!

Sunny, can you come and teach my kids to sleep.

TH, they are 2 and almost four. This night was hellish yet again. First Ophelia woke up for a glass of water. (Not that it matters: I placed a glass next to her bed previously and she just woke up and demanded sth else.) Then Elisabeth woke up several times. She was wide awake: giggling for a good 15 minutes... and then screamfest again. It was two am when I went back to sleep. They woke up at seven. I was so out of it, I nearly ran into a wall. lolz

Ophelia was great until the age of about 2,5. Elisabeth has been a ride in hell since she was born. Actually no, the first three weeks she slept. Then it was hell. lolz but not really

Someone we know recommended this book, but I don't know: http://www.sleepyplanet.com/products/sleepeasy_book.php
The amazon page has endorsements from Greg Kinnear, Ben Stiller and Conan O'Brien! So there's that, haha. We have been incredibly lucky with Sylvie so far -- so much so that I hesitate to even talk about it for fear of jinxing. For the past 2 weeks, she's pretty much been sleeping from 9ish to at least 7am, w/o waking up. She'll make a little noise from time to time, but then falls right back to sleep. She's only 4 months, so teething hasn't even started yet. I expect that'll put an end to these long nights.

Any recommendations on transferring a 5 month old from a swing to a crib? She doing great right nows (generally sleeps from 9:30 pm to 6:30 am), so I don't want to mess anything up. But our pediatrician seems to think that if we wait any longer she'll have a real hard time getting used to it. Also, how old were your kids when they started sleeping in cribs? Part of me wants to wait a few more months because of SIDS concerns.

The boys both went into a big cot around 4 months as they outgrew the little crib we had. I just put 'em in there and hoped for the best (Howie was a terrible sleeper before and after -- Archie pretty much slept through as soon as he went into the cot).

what is a swing??

Talking about these things:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41y39D03GPL._AA400_.jpg

We transitioned her from a bassinet to this around 2 1/2 months, I think. It totally saved our lives at the time. Unfortunately, she immediately wakes up when we try placing her in the crib when she falls asleep. I think she's gotten used to being in a cradled postion while sleeping.

How about something like this in the crib, to make her feel more secure?

Oh yeah, I forgot about those things. We may try that. Thanks!

Wow, I think here they would strongly advise against a swing. For several reasons, mainly because they claim such things are bad for the back. Hell, we can't even use it too long during the day.

ANYWAY bedtime?What the hell is that? This night was a record. Elisabeth was awake and frigging playing in her bed until she had a screamfest. During that time, until 4 AM, Ophelia would come to our bed and demand to sleep with us. I know some would succumb and we have in the past. But 1 it's a bad idea (this night case in point, she is stubborn) and secondly we get no sleep because the bed is too small for three people. Honestly I am trashed beyond belief. Every other day it's more or less like this. Not a week of solid sleep goes by. Maybe once a while we get some sleep, like eight hours. But most of the time one or both wake us up.

Urgh.

Okay, sorry, had to rant and moan. No wonder my sinus infection doesn't go away. My throast is hoarse and my eyes bleary.

Our Alice would never go in a cot. She could be completely zonked, but the very second we transferred her from arms to cot, she'd jump up and yell.

There was a spare normal bed in her room as well, so we put her on that instead (with the cot alongside to prevent fall-out), and that was fine.

I have now resorted to sleeping half an hour (or less if it's doable) with Ophelia... in her bed.

Sunny, can you come and teach my kids to sleep.

nath, beeps slept through from 3 wks with the occasional expected restless teething night etc until she turned two. i think shes slept through the night maybe twice since then and shes turning 3 in less than a month. in the end we caved to cosleeping (her starting in her bed and ending up in ours anywhere between 12-4am). Co-sleeping was probably the only thing we were really against as new parents but when it comes down to getting 2 or less hours sleep a night and the consequent frayed nerves and fights i guess youve just got to go with what keeps you all sane.

also i should say i completely credit all of this infant sleeping to the miracle blanket.

wtf seriously? it seems bizarre that she could suddenly turn around and just not sleep through anymore.

Now that Aidan is in a bed we notice that he often doesn't 'sleep' through. Sometimes we'll get woken up by him shouting 'mummy! mummy! etc. but he'll go back to sleep, some nights (like last night) he'll actually get out of bed and come through to and pat me on the face or hand to wake me up. Just because the parent doesn't wake up doesn't mean the child doesn't. I think when he was in the cot he just settled himself and went back to sleep quicker than he does now he knows he can get out of bed.

i am going to have to learn more patience than i currently possess if my child starts patting me on the f'in FACE while i am trying to sleep

it's kinda cute, he does it ever so gently. Luckily he's happy for me to lead him back to his bed, I give him a quick cuddle then say night night.

Big tip on how to avoid it though - make sure you are sleeping furthest away from the door as they always go for the nearest side. I am kicking myself that I didn't do anything about it before now.

Howie doesn't seem to realise he can actually get out of bed in the night (we put a stair gate across his room just in case!).

He does wake once or twice most nights though, mostly in need of a drink of water or to fish out Igglepiggle from down the side of the mattress. Occasionally he thinks it's cute to pretend to be a kangaroo and kick the side of the bed for half an hour in the middle of the night.

One of the cutest things I ever experienced: I went to check up on O. I looked at her very close - I really love seeing my kids sleep - and she woke up, lifted her head and said: "FRUIT!" and went back to sleep. lol Other times she just smiles rrrreally sweetly and strokes my face. :-)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))) <3

Well, we almost have Chloe out of the swing now. Things got all screwy when she got a cold/ear infection/teething, but I suppose that's par for the course. She's actually sleeping really well at 5 1/2 months. Right now she goes to bed at 7 - 8 pm, gets up to eat around midnight, and then sleeps in until 6 am. Is that unusual? Does this mean something awful is about to happen or something???

something awful is always right around the corner but it is invariably proceeded and followed by something astoundingly great

I knew I shouldn't have posted the "elisabeth sleeps through" . she came into our bed at around 12 am. Then a few hrs later it was Ophelia's turn. She slept with me until the morning.

ARGH!!!!!!!!!

The girls, about an hour ago (they NEVER do this):

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2794/4332862913_2392873646.jpg

<3 <3

So they share a room? What age from? The boys will need to go in together at some point but not sure how that's gonna play...

Also, Howie still doesn't know what his pillow's for, and sleeps curled up in the middle of the bed with the duvet right over his head.

Well, we finally got their room sorted out in Mar '07 when Ava was just past her 2nd b'day and Lulu was five months. At that point it was a bed and a cot; since May '09 they've had identical Ikea beds (it's never looked this good since):

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3350/3552977936_02afcaac9e.jpg

Guys, I need some... support. Be frank, I don't give a shit if you say I'm crazy or stupid for saying what I'm about to post.

Every night Ophelia comes to our bed. Now this wouldn't be that big of a problem if our bed was big enough. But it isn't. So one of us needs to go sleep in her (big single bed). It has happened that Elisabeth has awakaned and cuddled up next to Ophelia in our bed. You can't really refuse when she sees O sleeping in our bed. We're at the same point as E's sleepless period (first 15 months or so). We're wrecked. I can't really say no, I just let her sleep in our bed. But my husband is, understandably, not happy. Has anyone made a firm point and refused their kid(s) in their own bed?

How long does this period - of sleeping in parents' bed- really last? It can't be that long, right?

See, this is what happens when you let them out of the closet at night.

Nath I know loads of families who play musical beds with their kids in the middle of the night. And nobody who still does it with a teenager, so they must grow out of it at some point! I'm always in favour of the solution that gets everyone the most sleep, so if you all sleep OK in together then why not -- is getting a bigger bed an option?

OTOH if it's stopping you sleeping then why not try some gentle ways to fix it. Some friends of mine had success getting their three-year-old to stay in his own bed with a night/day alarm clock like this one -- http://www.bunnyclock.com/. Or how about a reward chart?

Nath, we haven't cracked this problem at all.

Ava comes in with us less than she used to - perhaps seven nights out of every ten rather 19 out of every 20 (as it was up to a year ago) - and if it's just her then there's virtually no sleep disruption. But if it's Tallulah too (perhaps one night in four), then there's no way we can get through the night. Either I have to try and sleep in about four inches of bed, or they fight for space keeping us all awake, or - if I'm lucky - Lulu is so heavily under at the point at which her presence wakes me that I can carry her back into her room without further disturbance. I have gone and slept in Ava's bed before but it's the least-favoured option as it leaves Lulu on the edge of our bed and me out of earshot of the alarm.

Okay, knock on wood, suddenly she has been sleeping through the night much more. Of course discounting that one night when both woke up and slept in our bed. But I was able to get them back into their own bed.

TH, lolz. :-)

Friend updates F'book status at 8:30, says he is Ferberizing (cry it out) one of his sons. Through the comments, he and his wife make it known that the Ferberizing son used to go to sleep at 8:00, but lately it has been more like...9:00. A later comment from the dad, left close to 9:00, says "Oh, there he goes again." They are not losing sleep over their son -- who might not need as much sleep as he once did, you know? -- and they are getting tough over one bloody hour. I doubt their older son slept through it.

My nerves wouldn't make it, I promise you. Co-sleeping is the only way I will survive.

Beeps stopped co-sleeping with us when she got a newly decorated room w/ twin bed that has a princess canopy. I totally miss it.

I loved co-sleeping with Howie. There is nothing like waking up with a baby snuggled alongside you. But Archie never really went for it, he slept much better in his own room. Plus being able to breastfeed lying down is the key to restful co-sleeping and even now Archie won't latch on lying down.

Same here. Ophelia never went for co-sleeping. Elisabeth still is a very fussy sleeper. But y'know you have to adapt. Be flexible. I do realize I was (and still am) very quick to run if she cries. The other day I went to the attic after I put her to bed for her afternoon nap. She cried. I decided to just go up for a minute. She stopped after two minutes. lol

I'm not a big fan of co-sleeping as I tend to roll over. I know many say that a mom will wake up if she rolls on top of her child, but I woke up once or twice with her lower body under mine. I worry way too much. But she's older now and I see less danger in doing it. :-) But I did co-sleep (when necessary, when she wanted).