Last night was a tiring one. Toddler who decided that the early hours was a good time to demand hugs from daddy and 5.15am was an acceptable time to rise (a lie in is to get to 6am in our house!) However, thrown into the mix; an 11 month old boob monster who fussed, fed, tried to climb and seat drop on my head almost every hour throughout the night. Complete with a cheeky giggle, it's difficult to get cross with him. It's likely to be developmental, as he's showing lots of keenness to walk and climb. However, after the lack of sleep last night, I'll be less than impressed if he hasn't learned to fly, never mind walk!
To say I was exhausted when at 5.30am, baby decided that he was getting up (...even though he remained exhausted too!) is an understatement!
Some days go by in a blur of tiredness and I'm not looking for sympathy here, I chose to have the boys and personally don't advocate some of the 'sleep training' methods I've read so much about. I'm looking for ways of 'coping' on such little sleep. I know it'll pass eventually and I'll have 2 lazy, grunting teenagers who I struggle to drag out of their pits.
I hear a lot about 'sleep when baby sleeps', but that's not possible in a playgroup, on public transport or when toddler wants me to pretend to be a horse and ride around with him on my back.
My current coping strategies include;
* Gorging on cake,biscuits and Nutella by the spoonful (I'm hoping it's going on Isaac's thighs and tummy, not mine...)
* Numerous cups of coffee, which results in toilet trips with an audience.
* Moaning to mummy friends.
* The occasional glass of wine when all 3 boys (including husband!) are sleeping.
What's your coping methods on minimal sleep?
It's tough isn't it? My oldest mostly sleeps now but didn't until she was over 2. The little one wakes frequently. My coping stratergies also involve coffee and a good mummy friend moan. Although I also try to get an early night in whenever I can as my boy usually sleeps better in the early part of the night so I'm more likely to get at least a couple of hours uninterrupted if I get to bed at 9!
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ReplyDeleteEvery baby is a different baby... with my first born we had to use the Cry It Out method and it was horrible. I mean it did work! But the experience that led to us HAVING to use the method and actually using the method was very tough. Wrote an article about it titled after the German book we used called Every child can learn to sleep. Unfortunately the book is out of print in English so I made a few scheduling tables in my article to help people.