So, I wanted to document Collins’ sleeping progression so I’ll have something to look back on if the boys go through this one day. Boring post, but MAYBE….just maybe, someone else is going through this and it will help them out!
My girl was the ABSOLUTE BEST SLEEPER in the world for the first 2.5 years of her life. Started sleeping through the night at 7 weeks old and never looked back. Always took two good naps a day and transitioned into one nap just fine. At night, she would tell us she was ready to go to bed sometimes:-) We would always put her right down, give her a kiss and leave the room and she was FINE. Would sleep till 8:30 almost every weekend. A DREAM come true.
And then….and then something changed. Right around the time she was 2.5 (maybe a bit before that)… we were living with my parents and she started waking up in the middle of the night SCREAMING. This happened a few times….who knows? Night terrors? And then…while still living with my parents we started having a REALLY hard time getting her down at night. She would scream/cry and Mikey (who is the better negotiator/more patient parent) would always be able to talk her to sleep, but sometimes it would take 20 minutes. *where had our wonderful sleeper gone??? And why was this happening RIGHT before the boys were due?!? AAAHHHH!!!!* She eventually got over the screaming part after a few weeks….but the “talking her to sleep/taking forever” kept up for months. I don’t know if it was a combination of all the changes (moving in with my parents, moving to a new house, having two babies born, etc.) or just a typical toddler sleeping pattern (as a lot of my friends said their kids did this too)… but lordy me! There was a point in time when I wondered if it would ever be easy to put her down to sleep again…. And I’m here to say, there is:-)
I would say though, for about 4-6 months, putting her to bed at night was a challenge and quite time consuming. We’d have to leave the door open/light on or something. She also went through a phase when she would wake up in the middle of the night and come to our room. Happy to note that phase passed as well, but much quicker. This was more recent, and I’m sitting here thinking “I’ve got twin boys who sleep thru the night but I am getting up 3 times to put their big sister back to bed!!” We never put her in bed with us, unless it was after like 6 am… and I would always take her straight back to her bed. This went on for about a month, but at the time it seems so long!
I’m happy to report all seems back to normal lately. She hasn’t woken up in the middle of the night in a long time…. And going to bed at night doesn’t take forever. I mean, don’t get me wrong; she’s still a toddler and there’s still a nightly checklist before bed. Ours includes: two books, prayers, spelling her name out loud, turning on the night light, making sure all her stuffed animals are accounted for and getting her a “fresh” cup of water. But, there are no tears and no aggravation from the parents. She still sleeps 10-11 hours at night and takes about a two hour nap every day.
So, there it is………..hoping we’ve come out on the other side of any toddler sleeping issues and reminding myself none of it lasted too long and it comes and goes so quickly! Hopefully the boys won’t go thru this, wishful thinking?! ;-)
And because what's a post without a picture?!
Love these three with all my heart.
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