The right things in the wrong order?
Isaac's sleep issues have been a constant subject of this blog; if you need catching up, let me sum it up for you: the boy still doesn't sleep through the night. The major problem with this is that, yes, we HAVE tried everything, but this "everything" was sprinkled over his entire lifetime, and what didn't work once may work now that he is older. This surely makes things even more frustrating than ever, since one can never rest on her "I tried that" laurels. The toddler, he likes to keep one on one's toes.
For many months now, we have tried a bit of a bedtime routine with Isaac, which goes like this.
7:30 -- a cup of warm milk; an episode of the Wiggles taken in in the comfort of an arm-crook.
8:00 -- a bath.
8:10 or 8:30 -- jammies and teeth-brushing.
8:45 or 9:00 -- quiet stories in his room.
9:15 or 9:30 -- in bed.
**a special note to all you mommies out there whose toddlers willingly go to bed at 7:30: I secretly hate you.
This routine began to go a bit awry when I told Dada it was time for him to take over bathing duties, as Dada immediately decided that the boy only needed a bath every other day. On non-bath days we would try to fill in the empty space where bath time should have been with another rowdy activity, like dancing and singing or wrestling or running around the house. Regardless of the presence or absence of a bath in a day, however, the boy would sleep through the night maybe once or twice a month.
This week I am trying something different. Monday night and Wednesday night the boy was bathed by myself or Dada, and I noticed that he is really starting to enjoy lingering in there. Bathtime is officially a half-hour long affair from which Isaac can only be dragged away kicking and screaming. On both nights, his bath came first, then milk and Wiggles. Monday night he slept through the night. Wednesday night he woke up at 1, but then quickly went back to sleep and stayed that way until 8. Tuesday night, when he did NOT have a bath, he was up from 1:00 to 3:00, until I dosed him up with some "Vitamin B" to knock him out.
Noting the correlation here (though admittedly the sample size is very small), I gave him another bath last night. Again, he slept through the night. Tonight he got another bath, and while I am tempting fate by blogging about this, perhaps we have finally found the right order of the right things (applied at the right time in his life) to help him stay safely away in dreamland in the middle of the night.
For many months now, we have tried a bit of a bedtime routine with Isaac, which goes like this.
7:30 -- a cup of warm milk; an episode of the Wiggles taken in in the comfort of an arm-crook.
8:00 -- a bath.
8:10 or 8:30 -- jammies and teeth-brushing.
8:45 or 9:00 -- quiet stories in his room.
9:15 or 9:30 -- in bed.
**a special note to all you mommies out there whose toddlers willingly go to bed at 7:30: I secretly hate you.
This routine began to go a bit awry when I told Dada it was time for him to take over bathing duties, as Dada immediately decided that the boy only needed a bath every other day. On non-bath days we would try to fill in the empty space where bath time should have been with another rowdy activity, like dancing and singing or wrestling or running around the house. Regardless of the presence or absence of a bath in a day, however, the boy would sleep through the night maybe once or twice a month.
This week I am trying something different. Monday night and Wednesday night the boy was bathed by myself or Dada, and I noticed that he is really starting to enjoy lingering in there. Bathtime is officially a half-hour long affair from which Isaac can only be dragged away kicking and screaming. On both nights, his bath came first, then milk and Wiggles. Monday night he slept through the night. Wednesday night he woke up at 1, but then quickly went back to sleep and stayed that way until 8. Tuesday night, when he did NOT have a bath, he was up from 1:00 to 3:00, until I dosed him up with some "Vitamin B" to knock him out.
Noting the correlation here (though admittedly the sample size is very small), I gave him another bath last night. Again, he slept through the night. Tonight he got another bath, and while I am tempting fate by blogging about this, perhaps we have finally found the right order of the right things (applied at the right time in his life) to help him stay safely away in dreamland in the middle of the night.
posted by Claire at 7:19 PM
7 Comments:
Oh my lord Claire! No blogging about it! AAAAAAAAAAAH!
And pease don't hate me.
uh Please?
Oh, I have gotten burned by the blogging curse SO many times before. And yet...the hope...is so strong...
The bath thing isn't really helping over here. Maybe I need to try the milk warmed, that might be the ticket. I also am going to just get him up and change his diaper before I go to bed as I think taht is a large part of the problem. sigh. Keep us posted.
I also hope that you are on the right road to sleeping success in your house. That Isaac sure makes Mommy's life difficult at night.
Please don't hate me because my child goes to bed at 7:30 most nights hehe. But not all the time, last night was 8:30.
sleep is such a constant changing issue. . .as they grown and change their sleep needs change. . .and oh you just never know what the changes will be. . .sending the sleep fairy your way. . .so isaac starts to sleep REALLY well. . .REALLY soon.
Thanks, everybody. Except for you nerds with the kids that do sleep. You guys really suck. ;)
Naturally, because I blogged about it, Isaac didn't sleep well at all last night. Note to self: only invoke the blog-curse on weekends where Dada can help look after the young man so I can sleep.
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