I'm starting to wonder if I'll ever get used to Lily not sleeping through the night. I continue to put these false expectations of "tonight will be the night that will start the trend", and it just doesn't happen. She will have one or two decent nights here and there but it just doesn't seem to stick.
It's frustrating.
I'm frustrated for her but I am also frustrated for Dustin and I. All we want is a few nights of solid sleep and not have to say, "She did ok and only woke up once during the night". Sure, that's progress from the 12 times a night she used to wake up at 9 months, but we would love for it to be a normal sleep pattern, for her and us. Maybe we're asking too much and not exercising enough patience.
So many of our friends with kids cannot really relate to what we're going through at this stage of the game. Every parent deals with sleep issues at some point but very few seem to battle it continuously for this long. My heart sinks with twisted envy when I hear someone say that their child sleeps 11-12 hours at night and takes a 2-3 hour nap during the day. I'm so jealous of that type of sleep.
I miss sleep.
I realize how selfish this sounds. Me, me, me. Honestly, I have no qualms about how selfish this post is. It's how I feel in this moment.
Somehow though, I feel like I am failing Lily. Like Dustin and I are doing something wrong. I suppose as a parent, you always feel like you're doing something that will negatively impact your child. I honestly don't know what to do differently.
We let her cry it out when we know she doesn't need anything, which at this point occurs about 3 times a night. That's the only option for us at this point otherwise she would be awake most of the night. Co-sleeping doesn't work because our bed represents playtime to her. (We never preferred co-sleeping anyway. We would rather her be independent and in her own space.)
What are our other options? We're at a loss.
As I said a few posts ago...this too shall pass. I'm just wondering how long. I miss being able to function normally.
I'm sorry you guys are having such a difficult time. I wish I could offer you some advice though I am sure you've research things to do. How frustrating. Sleep is so important and when you don't get enough it definitely wears on you. Wish I lived near you so I could come and watch her so you could take a nap!
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to let you know how much I may understand since Christian didn't sleep through the night until he was 22 months old- sucked! For us, the solution was we finally found out he officially had reflex and he went on prevacid which was a God sent. He started sleeping all night but with twins, not sleeping through the night for almost two years I feel your pain. I wish I had the magic answer for you because lack of sleep SUCKS! Then we stopped the Prevacid...guess what it came back last month- once a night. Needless to say- he is back on it for now.
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