Earlier this year, I wrote about why I refused to sleep train my babies. Now that my daughter is 1, I still refuse to sleep train her. My Journey to My Decision When my son was a baby, I read a lot about sleep and babies. He was waking every 2 hours every single night. On the rare nights that he slept 3 hours, I woke up after 2 and freaked out, rushing to make sure he was still breathing. He was born at 34 weeks and the risk of SIDS was slightly higher for him, so I didn’t complain about how often he was waking. It meant he was…
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Sleep Deprived Dreams
My daughter seems to be teething non-stop these days. While I’m glad she has more than two teeth, it means she sleeps very fitfully. Any noise will wake her. She’ll take an hour to settle down. She’ll just want to be held for an hour. And the teeth come in one…at…a…time. This mommy is tired. For as long as I can remember, I have always had bouts of vivid dreams. Sometimes they only lasted a week. Sometimes they occurred almost every night for a month. I drew inspiration from them, used them as the foundations of my stories. I looked forward to sleep just so I could escape into an…
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How Does She Sleep Like That?
For about 5 years now I have watched my cat sleep. Like all cats, Xena enjoys contorting herself, if she’s not finding the strangest hiding places. For years, this has been her favorite sleeping position, and I always wonder, “how is that even comfortable?!” But she’s a cat, so I guess she must be comfortable. Until today I had a hard time getting a picture of it. She would always uncurl to glare at me for waking her up. Just trying to get a picture, cat! But now with two small children who are fascinated by her, she doesn’t get as much sleep as she used to. Needless to say,…
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Sleep Deprivation is My Best Friend
For 19 months my son woke up every 2 hours every single night. My daughter will be 1 soon and wakes at least 5 times a night. On a good day I function on about 6 hours of broken sleep, but, usually, I get about 4 hours. But I don’t complain. It’s hard and I do wish I could get more sleep. But I don’t complain and I don’t spend night after night trying to train my baby to sleep. Instead I remember I am lucky. Lucky to wake up to a breathing child. Lucky to wake up to any child at all. Both of my kids are late preterm…
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No to Sleep Training
Earlier today I posted about my decision to not sleep train my 2 babies. It’s a decision I don’t regret and it’s been working just fine for my family, though I am lucky to have been at home with both babies while they wake 2-1000 times a night. Sleep training is one of those things parents, moms especially, feel pressured to do and keep at even when it breaks hearts. It’s just as hard waking with the baby all night, but I would take it over listening to my baby scream every night (which my first did, all night every night for a week). I decided I wasn’t going to let myself…
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Why I Said No To Sleep Training
Sleep training is teaching a baby to go to sleep on their own. There are a few methods, from letting the baby “cry it out” to soothing the baby back to sleep without picking the baby up. There are many suggestions about how many months old the baby should be. Most say at least 3 months, but beware during one of the dreaded sleep regressions. With my son I was desperate to stop waking up every 2 hours when he was about 6-7 months old. I decided to try sleep training and attempted to Ferberize him (let him cry it out). It was painful. Not only did he not go…
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Overtired Baby is a Sleeping Baby?!
Oh, my precious little 8 month old daughter, I wish I could figure you out. When you wake up during the 11pm hour, I know it’s going to be a long and wakeful night. When you wake during the midnight hour, I know we will both sleep for two hours at a time. When you wake during the 1am hour, I know it’s going to be a great night. Such has been true since you were 6 months. How can I get you to sleep, at least until that 1am hour? The experts say an overtired baby does not sleep well, so make sure baby sleeps. I did that. I…
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Motherhood: That toothless smile
Well, the rest of this month is a bit of a wash. My son decided to change his nap schedule on me, so now neither of us quite knows when he wants to sleep and for how long, which means I don’t get much done! Besides that, we’re doing a little traveling this month, and then we start some serious sleep training (with fingers crossed that this time – this time! – it’ll work). So, here’s a poem to commemorate 7 months of (still) waking up every 1-2 hours every single night! Tiny toes, chubby fingers Delicate ears, button nose Chubby, rosy cheeks Just ripe for pinching Wide eyes Drinking…
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Motherhood: Yes, SIDS scares me, but…
I still let him sleep with a blanket. Actually, about six to make his big crib a little cozier and one to cover him. Oh, and a stuffed animal rattle. SIDS: Sudden Infant Death Syndrome aka a parent’s worst nightmare. This is when an infant suddenly and unexpectedly passes away, usually while sleeping. Most, if not all, parenting resources will say to never let your child sleep with pillows, blankets, stuffed animals, loose linens, crib bumpers, etc. Basically, anything soft and loose that can cover the baby’s nose and mouth and prevent breathing. I’m terrified of SIDS. I wake up in the middle of the night more than my baby…
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Raven, Chapter 12-a
Aven and I worked hard to bring in loyal followers. They were shy of following a girl, but I proved myself to them. I was a good leader, kind, but firm, giving, yet demanding. My followers were steadfastly loyal. Finally, it was time to face the remaining Thief Lords to establish myself as one of them. It was Aven who gave me my new name. He put an “R” before his own name, to signify I came from him, and called me Raven. -writing on the cell wall She couldn’t sleep. The sun had risen, but she couldn’t sleep. No matter what she did, she just couldn’t sleep. So, she…