Sleeping

Kaitlyn was born a good sleeper. We co-slept and bed shared until she was 7 months old.  We did "cry it out" for a couple nights and then she was sleeping through the night in her own crib.  From that time she would easily sleep 12 hours a night.  When she was tired through toddlerhood, she would just find a place and go to sleep.  As a preschooler, she would ask to go to bed as soon as she was a little tired.  Even now, she goes to bed at 8:30, is asleep by 9 and gets up at 8.  She's a great sleeper.

Matthew was not a good sleeper.  He liked to be held.  Or sleep on his tummy.  He had bad NICU habits.  At home, the only time he slept on his tummy is if he was on our chest, laying back.  He had to be swaddled, and even so he was still up every couple of hours to eat.  But, he was a preemie, spent the first 4 weeks in the NICU and another few days in the PICU a few weeks before he passed away, at that time his adjusted age was only 3 weeks, so it's hard to know what his sleep habits would have been.

Samantha is a horrible sleeper.  HORRIBLE.  From birth.  She did not want to go to sleep.  She still doesn't want to go to sleep.  She hates the mattresses on bassinets and pack and plays.  She likes to have her special blankets, she likes to have her special pillow.  She needs to be really tired and ignored to go to sleep.  Even at night, she doesn't always fall asleep in the car.  She will stay awake until she can literally not keep her eyes open.  Which means, she has, on multiple occasions, fallen asleep at the table eating.  Samantha's saving grace is that she is a deep sleeper.  If she's asleep you can change her diaper, change her clothes, wash her face, paint her nails and nothing will wake her up.  Her current sleep habits have been to stay up until 4 in the morning, sleep until noon- despite doing everything we can to wake her, crashing at 6:30 or so in the evening, waking up at 11 and then wanting to play until 4.

It's bad.  I can't stand it.  I am a morning person.  I do not like "wasting" the early part of the day away.  We had to "fix" her habits.  So, the past few mornings, I've worked to get her up before 9:30.  This may or may not have meant I bribed her awake with a candy cane or lollipop.  Then, naps are not allowed.  It's too hard to wake her up from them, and even if she manages to take a short one, it acts like a 5 hour energy on her.

Wednesday night, she finally went to sleep at 10 and woke up the next morning at 9:30.  Yesterday, it was so rough to get her to stay awake through the day and early evening hours.  It is probably what encouraged her to take a blue marker and turn half of Kaitlyn's one "free" wall, the carpet, hall way wall, her mini wagon, her toy box, her baby high chair, her mouth, belly, feet and hands into art projects.  But, she was in bed, sound asleep at 9:30!!  AND slept through the entire night.  Waking up at 8:15 this morning.  We're getting there!

My goal is to get her in bed by 8:30 and awake by 7:15, then she can easily be dressed before we take Kaitlyn to school in the mornings!  Hopefully we get to that goal before I start driving Kaitlyn to school at the end of next week!

My main concern right now is that she is a terrible adjuster, anything that changes in her schedule could be disastrous.  So, we'll see what a trip to Disneyland does next month!

Charlotte is a pretty darn good sleeper.  Her routine is usually spending a good chunk of the day nursing every hour and 45 minutes.  In the mid afternoon (lately between 11 and 3) she takes a 4 hour nap!  She has been doing one stretch the last few days where she is up for about an hour and a half after that nap.  Then, she does one long stretch of sleep at night (3-4 hours most nights) followed by one mini long stretch (2-3 hours) before going back to the idea of nursing every hour and 45 minutes.  Last night, she did a nearly 6 hour stretch and a 3 hour stretch.  I am not complaining and only hoping that she's going to adopt Kaitlyn's sleep habits!