Sleep Struggles

So this turned into a rant. :) Really I just wanted to post that cute video of Zach all dozy and insisting he isn't tired. So cute and funny, huh? Just ignore the rest, but I'm leaving it for documentation sake. :) So in a few years when he's sleeping like an angel (right?!) I can look back and laugh......

Also, two days after writing this, he's gone to bed like an angel two nights in a row now. After two nights of miserable cry-it-out method. :(  So it has a happy ending. For now!

So far in my mothering career, the biggest struggles have centered around sleep. I know it may seem petty to some--but only to those that have not struggled with sleep. I am a long-time insomniac, and have tried every remedy out there to help me catch a good night's rest. When I was pregnant with Zach, I could no longer take  any medication to help with sleep--not that it helped much anyway. Sleep was moderately difficult during pregnancy due to the regular discomforts, but I plowed through. So I must've passed on my crummy sleep genes to my sweet baby boy. From Day One, Zach has been a terrible sleeper. We tried many different sleep training methods, and nothing worked until crying-it-out when he was 10 months old. Until that time, I was getting up with him every few hours each night for a half hour or so at a time. After this initial successful phase of sleep training, he would sleep about 6 hours at a time, which was heavenly for me.

Since then, every few months--especially during and after any travel--he regresses back to awful sleep patterns, and we have to retrain him. We have a pretty set routine, and take turns brushing his teeth, saying prayers, reading stories, singing songs, and rocking for a few minutes before lying him down. But lately, he's gotten out of the routine again, and I am going CRAZY!!! I don't mind getting up in the night from time to time, or the occasional early morning wake up call. But his sleep patterns are all over the place. Some nights he won't fall asleep until 10 or later, and he's often awake around 6:30 am. His nap schedule is a huge problem, because he has been refusing to nap, or taking an hour-plus to settle down for one. So depending on when or if he naps, his bedtime routine is completely off.

For instance, in the video above, he has been up for 11 hours straight, had a "quiet time," but did not nap. He crashed at 6 pm, which he NEVER does. I was planning on putting him to bed at 7, but figured since he fell asleep around 6, he'd be down for the night. I laid him in his crib, and lo and behold, he is up screaming and cranky 20 minutes later. It is now 9:30 pm and he's been crying for 1.5 hours since we did the bedtime routine. He begs for water, the potty, more stories and songs ("I want ALL OF THEM," he answers, when asked which one he wants us to sing :)), and of course, the obligatory, "I wanna rock for ONE MINUTE!"

I adore this boy more than words can describe, and know this too shall pass. But HOLY MOLY--I am going nuts!!! I feel like I've read all the books, tried all the tricks, and on and on. I'm really not asking for advice (but feel free to give any!), because I'm sure it will come with time--just prayers for patience so we all get through this unscathed! So we're back to trying the sleep training, and then we leave for a visit to Idaho/Utah in 3 weeks. Awesome. Then back to it. Again. Also, we have an impending room switch coming up as soon as we get the time to organize the bedrooms for each child. Zoey is still in the basinett next to my bed, though she is rapidly outgrowing it, and she is sleeping less and less soundly. Don't even got me started!

Right now my sweet boy is in there crying. I feel like a cold-hearted mother, but NOTHING WE DO (or have seen, read about, or tried) WORKS!!!! Before, it has taken a couple days of crying-it-out, which I really hate. But really, does anything else work? We're doing the Supernanny thing too. I know a lot of parents just pile the kids into bed with them or snuggle down with them. NO WAY!! That may be one of the reasons I am such an insomniac, and I know I couldn't function or sleep at all in that manner.

Okay, done ranting, kid is still crying, though it's getting quieter, and I don't feel any better.....:)

**As I wrote at the beginning, I had to note that this story has a happy ending. Two days after letting him "cry-it-out" for 1-2 hours, he has gone to sleep like clockwork for both naps and bed for the past two days. I don't know that it's worth trying any other method. I abhor "cry-it-out," but it is honestly the only thing I have found that works. :(( Now we'll see how Zoey does when we move her to the crib. I don't know if I can handle another round of cry-it-out--especially not with my tender newborn girl.....