I'm tired...like, really. I am. The last time I had consistant full night sleeps was 4 1/2 years ago. People lied to me. They said "6 weeks and they'll be sleeping through the night" If I could remember who told me that I'd go punch them but I can't because I'm too tired. Then baby 1 came, she slept fairly good, waking every 4-5 hours, then I get pregnant with baby #2 6 months after #1, hubs deploys which throws toddler 1 into a sleeping tailspin and baby #2 is born, baby #2 slept max 3 hours at a time...Then hubs deploys again, before this deployment we were in a wonderful 2 month span of everyone sleeping 7pm-7am..it was bliss, for 2 months..Then hubs deploys which, once again, throws the kids into a tailspin of no sleeping. We're talking both awake every couple hours crying for daddy..It sucked. We've never gotten back to that bliss.
My next issue... Big girl has the metabolism of a rabbit. It's insane. For Halloween she's going to be a starving refugee child. So, big girl eats dinner, eats a snack, drinks milk all before bed and her freakin metabolism wakes her up hungry anywhere between 11-2am, then 3-5 shes up again. I refuse to cook the child a meal in the middle of the night so we compromised and she gets a glass of milk then back to bed.. It has worked so far. She sleeps, I'm up approx. 2 times a night, not the best situation but I deal, she's not hungry in the night.
My final issue...Totally just clicked that I'm about to have a baby in 6 months (shut up, I know, I'm slow) ..also just clicked that babies get up around 3-5 times a night. Add 3-5 times a night for the baby plus 2-3 times for the other kids and that equals me up anywhere from 5-8 times a night....... THATS..EVERY..HOUR! What in the world am I going to do??? I'm not going to survive. Nor sleep...EVER AGAIN! I totally understand moms lose sleep and I'm okay with that, I am, however, not okay with being up every hour for the next umpteen years.
I get it, I shouldn't have started the milk thing but she was hungry and I can't bare to let my child go to bed hungry and I didn't know what to do. It was the best option at the time. I really don't know what to do.. let her be hungry? which could possibly just keep waking her up again and again. Or do I just suck it up and deal and spend the next 3 years of my life on no sleep at all? It's been suggested to me to try giving her a protein shake, milk, protein powder, but I'm not sure if I wanna go down that road or what, if any, effects it could have on her.
Moms, I NEED YOUR HELP! Have you ever dealt with this? What can I do? I'm positive that 80% of it is her metabolism and the other 20% is just habit. I can't bare having her hungry but I really really need some sleep in the next year.
2 comments:
Erica-- Give her Ensure before bedtime. Great for kids, tastes good, and will keep her tummy filled. Perhaps make that nighttime snack last longer/go later. Then tell her that she will get a really nice breakfast in the morning, every morning, but she needs to sleep all night. I imagine by this time it's part habit/part hunger that is making her wake up. HUGS. If, after you've started giving her Ensure at night, she still wants to get up-- first time, tell her the rule. Second time (that night), walk her back to bed without saying anything. Third and other times, same thing. Keep doing this until she gets to sleep. If Josh is home, have him do this. (Yes, I saw this on Super Nanny, lol.) I had to do it with Becky (not for food) and it did eventually work. A few rough nights but then sleep, blissful sleep.
If she hasn't woken for her liquid snack by the time new baby wakes, wake her up. It's what people do with twins for overnight feeds that way they both get fed at the same time and Mom isn't losing ALL her sleep. Just most!
Another option is maybe getting a small insulated lunch bag. When she wakes up wanting her milk, the cup is sitting right there for her.
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