emember how I used to be sleep deprived?
If you do… sit still for second whilst I give everyone else a run-down on the how much sleep I wasn’t getting.
Lacey didn’t like sleeping for the first 14 months of her life. She woke almost every 40 minutes at night. I would feed her. Put her back to sleep. Grab 30 minutes of sleep and then get up and do it again. There were nights when she didn’t sleep at all. Actually, there were nights when I didn’t sleep at all. She slept. Just in my arms as I walked around the house like a crazy zombie lady. I remember one day I went to work with about an hours sleep under my belt. Nice.
For those that do remember… you’ll be saying… What? Are you no longer sleep deprived? Fill us in.
And now I am filling you in.
At around the 14 month mark I gave up breastfeeding. Lacey still didn’t sleep brilliantly. I thought it would answer all my sleep woes. It didn’t. She would wake and it would take up to an hour of getting her back to sleep sometimes. We were all Sssshhhhhh and Pat, Pat, Pat and WHY ON EARTH DID I EVER GIVE UP BREASTFEEDING {i.e. being a human pacifier}?!
And then one night Lacey found a dummy. She found it in her toybox. It was in the toybox because I had lost faith in her every liking them. I tried them. She had one for about 6 seconds whilst we were in hospital and then never really took to them again. From that moment she found the dummy in her toybox… our lives have changed. I mean seriously changed.
I know I’ll never catch up on all that sleep I’ve lost, but I’m really getting there. I am getting over 8 hours sleep a night {if I don’t stay up reading blogs, tsk tsk}. She puts herself to sleep. She wakes in the middle of the night and sometimes we quickly put the dummy in, but most of the time she just resettles herself. It’s a MIRACLE!
I’d like to say that I implemented some amazing plan that changed things… but I didn’t. If I was to write a book about saving your sleep it would be short and go something like this:
My daughter found a dummy in her toybox. We finally got sleep. And we lived happily ever after. The end.
* I started writing this post on Saturday, ironically whilst Lacey slept at night. At midnight I turned off my computer and decided to get some shut eye myself. Well… wouldn’t you know it? She woke every hour. And did the same the next night, and then again last night. That’ll teach me to get all cocky and write a post about not being sleep deprived!
Oh, that was a YAYYYY post with a errrgh at the very end!! 😛 I hope it improves 'telle and it's only teeth or something temporary like that xx
oh, I was so excited for you until I got to the end bit. Let's hope it's a temporary glitch, and you get back to 8 hours again very soon. xx
Urgh, the old write about it and then watch it all turn to shit again! Hope things turn back soon – you know she can do it at least. God bless dummies indeed!
So thats what happened! Good old toy box. I do hope you have a new, cleaner dummy now 😉 Fingers crossed tonight things are back to the new normal xox
hehe i got all cocky too and then rosie went crap again with her sleep. she spends most of the night in our bed now, but atleast she sleeps the whole time she's in it i suppose! my sleep isn't too bad, atleast i'm not getting up all night – i just spend most of the night hanging on to the side while rosie hogs the whole bed….
Congratulations! I remember too vividly how good it feels to finally get a night's sleep.
(Seriously, the sprog's sleep problems for the first 9 months of her life have deterred me from having children again for quite a while. I just can't face it again for at least another three years).
I hear you! I am still in the midst of it all with my 10 month old…..praying it will get better some day soon.
GOOD FOR YOU! Although there's something these babes detect when we are being cocky, I'm sure it's just a glitch.
We had a similar issue and I voraciously read through your archive for how you dealt with it and “basked” in the fact that there were others who knew the absolute exhaustion I felt some months ago. It meant a lot to me to read your story of deprivation and I'm glad it's so much better for you all.
That is excellent news – there is hope for me still!
@Liss: Thanks. I actually think she has a little cold. So I don't think we are going backwards. I still have hope!
@Jen: Thanks. Eight hours would be nice right now. xx
@Beth: Yes, bless the dummies. Lifesavers indeed!
@Bianca: Ha ha. Yes, she most certainly got a gaggle of new dummies. She didn't have to rely on the old one from the toy box for more than a moment.
@Helen: I know that feeling. How can a little person take up so much room!?
@LittleMissMoi: Ah, I too know your pain. We'll be waiting a while too. Although I don't blame Lacey… it's mostly my doing from not teaching her properly.
@MTB: Sending you lots of sleeping vibes. This too shall pass. xx
@Cat: It's so nice to know that we're not alone, isn't it? I loved when I read/heard that others were going through the same thing. xx
@TheRedDeer: True. Sending you some hope too. xx
hey telle…
that is so funny to read vut it sucks to be you! on the other hand, atleast you know she is capable of sleeping well so it will happen again – hopefully sooner rather than later!
rowe xxx
I love binkies!! Well, I loved binkies for my babies…they were a wonderful lifesaver. My favorite invention was the little clippy that kept the binky on their clothes so they could find it in the middle of the night. It will get better and stay that way…hopefully soon.
@Rowe: She slept through the night last night. So… YIPPEEE!
@Elizabeth: I love the name binkies. How cute is that. {Oh, and I love them too. Sssh}.
yay lacey… num num's rock!!!
rowe
p.s. num num is dummy in audrey language.