So I've had sleep a lot on my mind in anticipation of Asher coming. I'm mentally trying to prepare myself for the nights without sleep again...and my husband, who doesn't seem to be worried about it so much. Maybe because you could put a blow horn to his head at night and he won't move. Let's see how a screaming 1 year old works :-)
Kyleigh has always been pretty good about sleep. She slept through the night pretty early as a baby and we never really had any issues until she was 3. She had a bad dream one night and we let her in our bed...which turned into two nights, 3....you get the drift. It took months to get her to sleep back in her own bed alone. She would go to bed and then sneak in our bed in the middle of the night. I am a very light sleeper, so I would usually wake up, but she got very sneaky and more times than not I would wake with her in my back. Luckily now she is awesome about bedtime and goes right to bed promptly at 8:30.
Reece on the other hand has never been a sleeper. Like ever. She gave up naps at 2. Yeah. All those moms that would talk about the stuff they would get done during 3 hour nap times I never had that wonderful notion. She still doesn't sleep. She fights bedtime every night still. We *start* at 8/8:30. Starting earlier doesn't work any better I will add first. We tried earlier and it just means fighting for longer periods of time. It's usually a 40 minute ordeal before she finally gives up and stays in her room. We hear every excuse...I'm hot, I'm thirsty, I'm not tired, I cannot hear my radio, etc. etc. etc. And she's up in the middle of the night too. Yup, sneaks in our bedroom just like Kyleigh did. On average 3 nights out of the week I wake up next to her. She is vocal about not liking sleep. She asked me this weekend if God had to go to sleep and I told her God wasn't like us and really didn't have a bedtime. "well, when I grow up I want to be God then so I don't have to sleep". Yes folks, this is our Reece a roni :-)
So, I know Asher's sleep transition is going to take some time. I'm trying to decide how to tackle things to have a game plan, but I also know it depends greatly on Asher's grieving and also what he is used to. I'm sure we will co-sleep for a while...but I bought a crib with purpose, so I'm hoping in a few months we will be able to transition him over. I think everyone does better when they get a good night's sleep in their *own* bed!!
Any sleep advice or tips to share?
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6 comments:
My advice... Jet lag is the great equalizer. You and he will be so stinkin' tired you'll be able to sleep through anything. Use that as an opportunity (the first night) to use the crib. That's what we did with incredible success. I think we had one night of our daughter sleeping on the floor and/or co-sleeping with me on the couch. We never used the bed to co-sleep.
I'm coming to realize that our daughter adjusted more easily than most and we are tremendously blessed. At least start with that plan and work from there. :) Good luck!
I do not have any advice on sleeping and adoption but I hear you on trying to mentally prepare yourself for the sleep stuff. To tell you the honest truth, reading peoples bad experiences make me feel like I could get hives. So, its nice to hear Craigs experience. I know that the experiences range from awesome to terrible...still sleeping issues seem to be the worst when bringing home kids from Korea. In my opinion I think getting a crib is a good thing and if you want her to crib sleep I would try it right away like craig did. I am such a light sleeper that if we end up co-sleeping for some time, we might have to switch nights with baby. I laughed when I read the part about your husband not being concerned, typical, huh??
Yeah Brooke..Bobby as a whole has been very steady and strong through this whole thing. None of my emotional outbursts or conversations about adoption concerns seem to phase him. I"m not sure if he has a wonderful sense of peace or he is just as crazy as I am and plays it off better than I do!!
And thank you as always Craig for your wonderful comments!!! You give me hope :-)
We were pretty lucky with sleep. Between the jet lag and becoming a new family we just had to find a groove. We slept (well Allen did because he didn't want anything to do with me) in his room on the floor for awhile, then we would put him in his crib and leave after he fell asleep then transitioned to the crib. It was fairly easy. Here's to hoping Asher will adjust well!!
We kept a pack n play in the corner of our room for months after Lindsey came home. She had a really hard time with sleep for a while, but slowly settled in. You are wise to be ready for anything...I am sure Asher will let you know what is going to work or not work! :)
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