Let’s Talk About Sleep, Baby

I don’t sleep train my kids, so I haven’t slept a full night since my daughter was born almost 5 years ago. Anyone else with me?

Ok, I lied. I might have slept once or twice. But with pregnancy, newborns, toddlers afraid of the dark, babies crying for milk and snuggles, teething, and whatever else I don’t get much sleep.

But these moments are so precious, so I try to think of the positives when I’m up at 1 a.m., 3 a.m. and/or 5 a.m. Even when my son goes to sleep at 7:30 p.m. and wakes up at 2 a.m. and just wants to play in his room because he had a great “nap.”

My kids only want me when they wake up and fall asleep at night, so my husband really can’t help. We have tried. All they do is cry for ME, so I can’t really go to bed with my heart aching knowing my baby wants mommy.

I’ll even admit that my daughter sleeps in bed with me every night and my husband sleeps in her bed! Judge all you want, but that’s what works in our house. My husband snores and I can’t deal with being woken up by him AND one or both kids at night. I need to be a functioning human and be able to work, too. And he sleeps better in her bed as opposed to being kicked all night with her in our bed. She’s afraid of the dark and we tried a lot to get her to sleep in her room, but when she does, she wakes up at 2 a.m. and only wants me to go get her. And there goes my sleep time when the baby is sleeping. So that’s what’s best for us. Thankfully, my son sleeps in his crib. When he sleeps. And we’re getting better at making it through the night- or at least 5:30 a.m.

I’m so grateful to be working from home now because I really don’t have to rush around in the morning and if I have the chance to hit the snooze button, I will.

I know when my kids are teenagers I’ll be loosing sleep for different reasons, so I’ll enjoy this less stressful lack of sleep while I can!

Do you sleep train your kids? Or are you against it and roughing it like me?

Lesson learned from this post: Don’t expect to sleep through the night after you have kids. The term “sleep like a baby” is a joke. Coffee is worth gold.