I remember vividly our struggles with Piper’s sleep habits. How desperately we wanted her to go to sleep on her own at a decent hour and how she just refused! How we rocked her and rocked her and rocked her… and just when we thought that she was in a deep sleep, we would lay her in her crib/bed and try to sneak off. Try being the key word because she would sit upright and start to cry.
It wasn’t until we gave up the nap before Christmas that Piper’s bedtime routine became bearable. In fact (as I knock wood) it’s a fricken breeze now.
I still have no idea why she was like that when it came to sleep. Personality? Habit? I don’t know. What I do is that when Davilyn arrived and showed us she was the Best.Sleeper.Ever. We were overcome with joy. It was bittersweet for me since I thought that the family bed would make our bond that much stronger… after Piper introduced me to the family bed, I resisted for a long time and eventually fell in love with it (mostly).
Then we decided to go on a weeks vacation without Davilyn. She stayed with my parents. My mom slept with her all.the.time. and napped with her too. Davilyn spent no sleep time away from her (or so I am told).
Well now I have a child that will not go to sleep on her own anymore. She now wakes in the night only to be with us. I try to bring her to my bed and she just wants to play. She would much rather we sit in the rocking chair holding her. She has also taken to crying so much she coughs and then pukes. I don’t blame my mother for sleeping with her… I do think she is dealing with separation anxiety. I worry it will only get worse starting next week when I am back to work 3 days a week.
Last night she went to bed easy because she was exhausted but woke a few times… the last time being 3:00 a.m. and finally at 3:30 after she had fallen asleep in my arms, she came to bed with us.
Where is my great sleeper little sleeper? I want her back.
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OK I can’t take all the blame for this one. I did not sleep with Dav 24/7. she was rocked to sleep (only because I love those moments with grandbabies)and gently put to bed where she slept for a few hrs on her own. I would join her at 10:30/11:00 .. only because I did not want her falling out of bed..she can shake those rails and she does not like the playpen(no crib at grandma’s)Why did I not ever get 1 ?)She was a great sleeper,, never got up to give her a bottle, she only woke once or twice looking for the susie and went right back to sleep. thats what happens when mom and dad desert the baby for a week.. hey she spent fri/sat with me again and was a good sleeper.. she missed mom/dad a lot. I wouldn’t change a thing, I love having the kids with me.