Olivia, my darling 4 year old, has a tendency to make almost nightly visits to our bedroom, wherein she climbs into our bed, snuggles between Kevin and I, and I normally don't hear her and only wake up when I've discovered that it's her foot in the small of my back, kicking me over and over again.
Sometimes she makes more noise and wakes us up... and being that it's normally 3 a.m., we don't have the energy to get out of bed and put her back in her bed (yes, I KNOW THIS IS A BAD IDEA. GO AHEAD AND CALL SUPERNANNY IF YOU MUST).
If it's a toss up between me getting sleep and her getting carried to her bedroom several times each night...sorry, but me getting sleep wins. Every time.
Except last night.
Last night Olivia decided she was hungry at 3 a.m. I'm pretty sure she wanted pancakes.
Lately, when Olivia cries it sounds more like a banshee than a human being. This is what I was listening to at 3 a.m. last night. "I'M STARVING!!!!!!!!! WAAAAAAA!!!!!!!"
Did I mention it was 3 a.m.?
After several VERY LONG minutes of listening to her wailing about how she was starving and watching her run from our room to hers with various items that HAD to come to bed with her (including a Disney World book and a pair of Little Mermaid socks), I had had enough.
I took my pillow and a blanket and went downstairs.
And slept on the couch.
It was not fun. It was cold. And uncomfortable.
This morning, my darling daughter was all warm and snuggly ON MY SIDE OF MY BED.
The sacrafices I make for my kids.
My 3 year old, as you may know, has been 1. Not staying in her bed when we put her to bed and 2. Getting out of bed many times per night.
ReplyDeleteI finally was so sleep deprived, I laid the smack down. Since we have CONTINUALLY got up for a few nights to put her back in bed.... The night wakings got like this... 4 times, then 2 times, then 6 times, then 2 times for a few days, then no times for a few days, then 2 times. Now (knock on wood) its been very few, if any wakings. And she stays in bed when we put her to bed.
So its getting better. Not perfect... you know, like Supernanny where they try it for 2 nights and they stay in bed forever from then on. Supernanny has never met MY child! :)
So it might be worth it in the long run. I'm getting a bit more sleep. Still not great. But better. HTH! :)
But I say, whatever is working for you. Go for it. I just adjust as I get to my last nerve. Then I try something new. No one is able to give you the best advice, except yourself (or your husband!)
olivia had stopped doing it for a while too. i think maybe she's grown out of her toddler bed...so we're getting her a real 'big girl' bed soon. i'm hoping that will make it stop. :)
ReplyDeleteI find that a long piece of rope and Nyquil work wonders....I'm just saying.
ReplyDeleteA locked door also may work..... j/j
ReplyDeleteWe have the same problem! We have twins who are 3, and they LOVE to crawl into bed with us. It was cute at first, but now it's impossible for us to get any sleep. We put a baby gate up on our door - I know that's probably horrible - but it worked for us. Lydia would get out of bed, walk to our door, see the gate, and go back to bed. She doesn't even cry, I think because she knows that she's not really supposed to be coming into our bed, so when she sees the gate she's like, "oh yeah!"
ReplyDeleteWELL, I don't put the gate up every night - sometimes I forget or sometimes I don't put it up because they have been staying in their bed. Last night I forgot to put it up, and was woken up at 5:30 a.m. by a little girl laying on my legs, who had just peed her pants. WONDERFUL! She had taken the liberty of taking her pull-up off, and put on underwear, came into our bed, went back to sleep, and had a pee-pee accident! NOT FUN! The gate's going back up tonight for GOOD! URgh!