The Sleep Diaries: Post-End Update

Rightio - I know you’ve all missed my constant whinging about how little sleep our household gets, so I thought I’d write a quick update.

Things are actually going pretty well (touch wood, cross fingers etc. etc).  For the last few weeks Kalani has quite happily slept until after 6 most of the time.  In fact, one morning he slept until almost 7:30!

We still have days where he’s up before 6, and sometimes he’ll go back to sleep until a more reasonable time, and sometimes he won’t, but for the most part he stays in bed until after 6.

So, how did we do this?

We didn’t.  

We’ve made no changes at all.  I guess that everyone was right, and it was just a phase that he was going through (though I’d like to add that the ‘phase’ lasted from the time he was born until he was about 2!).  

Personally, even though I’ve had an extended period of interrupted sleep and crazily early mornings, I’m still happy with the way we handled it.  I’m not strong enough to let Kalani cry it out - particularly in the middle of the night.  And first thing in the morning he normally needs a diaper/nappy change straight away, and by the time that's dealt with he's wide awake, so there was never much point in then putting him back in his room, closing the door and letting him scream himself silly.  Everyone has different comfort levels though, and perhaps yours are higher (or is it lower?) than mine!

So, if you have a child who sleeps badly or wakes up far far far too early, then take heart.  When people say that it will pass once your child grows older, they’re probably right.  It doesn’t help much when you’re in the middle of a sleep-deprived haze, but just hold on to the thought that once your child is a teenager you’re going to wish they didn’t sleep as much.

The Sleep Diaries: Week 3. The End.

Well the clock is going in the bin.  I have given up.

The Sleep Diaries: Week 2

So here we are in week 2 of the sleep diaries.

One of K's new habits (which I neglected to mention in any of the daily summaries), is to start shouting 'party party party' and wave his hands around.  While in bed.  At 5am.  When he's supposed to be going back to sleep.

The teenaged years will be great fun.


Day 8 (Thursday 23rd)

Initial wake-up at 5:20, though clock was set for 5:45.  Tried 3 times to get him to stay back in bed, but he kept getting up and crying.  The last time I went in I discovered he had a poopy nappy, so after I'd changed him I gave in to the inevitable - time to get up. *yawn*

Day 9 (Friday 24th)

Initial wake-up at 5am.  For some reason I was in K's bed with him - I can't even remember getting in, so I'm not really sure what happened there.  Anyway, once he was awake that was it.  I tried the old 'what does the clock say' routine, but he wasn't playing that game.  Oh no, he wanted to play a different game - initially one that involved all his stuffed animals, and then after 30 minutes or so (he may have gone back to sleep for 15 minutes in the middle of this - it's all a bit of a blur to me) he wanted to play a game that involved getting out of bed and up for the day.

So, we seem to be going backwards.  In a few days I'll be reporting that he's getting up at 4:30 again.  *sigh*

I've gone back to despising all those people with children who sleep late in the morning (and by late, I mean after 6:30!).  You guys suck and just to get you back I'm going to drop Kalani off to your house this evening and let you deal with the early wake-ups for a week or so, just to see how you cope!  Bah humbug :(

Day 10 (Saturday 25th)

Well hallelujah, we've done it (kind of).  This morning K didn't wake up until 6.30.  SIX. THIRTY.

Admittedly, he did wake up about 5 times during the night and needed me to go in and settle him back down again, but still.. 6:30!

Oddly, his clock was still showing the moon/night-time setting - for some reason it hadn't switched over the day-time sun, so unfortunately I'm not sure how much of his sleep-in was related to the clock, and how much was just because he'd been up so many times in the night that he needed the extra sleep.

Whatever the reason it was still 6:30! Woo hoo.

It looks like I may have to start despising myself :)

Day 11 (Sunday 26th)

Not a good morning.   At 5am he woke up, and even though I tried to get him back to sleep, even resorting to getting into bed with him, he insisted on staying awake, and at 5:30 I gave up and we were up for the day :(

Day 12 (Monday 27th)

This really is a yo-yo process.  This morning he woke at 4:30 and when I went in to try and settle him he said he wanted a cuddle, and, well, he's so cute and warm and soft and cuddly - particularly in the morning - so I climbed into bed with him and we cuddled and he went back to sleep.  At 6am the cat pushed her way into the room and started clawing all the furniture in an attempt to get us to wake up.  It worked.  So a 6am start this morning which is EXCELLENT.  It'll be interesting to see if we go back to an early start tomorrow morning!

Day 13 (Tuesday 28th)

Well, true to form, this morning was another 5am'er.  As far as I can tell the clock makes no difference at all.    I will not give up though.  I will continue to point at the clock, ask Kalani what time it is, and then say "YES, IT'S FLIPPING NIGHT-TIME, SO GET BACK INTO YOUR BED AND GO THE F**K TO SLEEP".

*breathe*

(As an aside, I really should get that book)


Day 14 (Wednesday 29th)

Yup, this morning was a 'late' start.  6am.  At least there's a pattern.

So to sum up for this week:

• The clock may as well be relocated to the bin for all the good it's doing;
• I'm tired;
• Really, really, tired;
• I've no idea what to try next.

Actually I do.  As I said earlier, I'm going to persevere, mainly because I don't like giving in, and partly because I'm a stubborn idiot.

*yawn*

The Sleep Diaries: Week 1

So a week has past since we started this experiment in getting Kalani to stay in bed until a reasonable hour in the morning.  

This morning was another success.  K didn't wake up at all until just after 5:30 which is an hour later than a week ago so we're definitely making progress.  Thank goodness! :)

Here is one of the reasons that K doesn't like to stay asleep in the mornings - he wants to play (in case you can't quite make out what he's doing - that's a harmonica in his hands/mouth).

I know you want me to go to sleep Mama, but I'm playing.  Rock On!

Tomorrow I'm setting the clock for 5:45.  Too optimistic?  Perhaps.

I'm going to post weekly about this for the next little while - at least until he's consistently staying in bed until after 6.

I can't wait :)

The Sleep Diaries: Day 6

We missed yesterday since K was up from 1am onwards with a stomach ache, so it would have been pointless to include our disastrous night's sleep in the diaries.

BUT ....

This morning was excellent.

K woke up around 4:50am and I went in and did my usual, "What does the clock say? That's right it says Night-Time which means you need to get back into bed" etc. etc.

And it worked.  Until 5:50.  

Happy days.

Perhaps this clock thing DOES work after all, or perhaps it's just having a plan/concept to stick to instead of giving in as soon he gets up.  Whatever the reason, I'm a happy woman this morning.

The Sleep Diaries: Day 5

Not too bad this morning.  Initial wake up was around 5.10am, and then Dan went in with Kalani until around 5.30!

The clock is still set for 5.15 and will st that way at least until tomorrow morning.  

I still think that his 'sleeping in' is mostly a coincidence and nothing to do with the clock, but whatever the reason it seems to be working... partially at least.

I'm still living in hope that one morning he'll just stay in bed until 6.30.  I guess it's good to have dreams - life would be pretty boring without them.

Until tomorrow.

The Sleep Diaries: Day 4

Woo hoo.

This morning K didn't call out for me until 5.19am (the clock was set for 5.15am).  I was asleep before this obviously, so I'm not sure if he woke up before that and then didn't cry out for me until after the clock changed, or if it's just a fluke that he didn't wake up until then.  He was up a lot in the night (he has a head cold) as well, which can sometimes make him sleep in a little later than normal.  

Therefore, I'm not assuming that he's now a trained sleeper (in fact I'm not sure there is such a thing unless you have a robot for a child), but I am pretty happy and hopeful.  If he can consistently stay in bed until after 6am I'll be over the moon.

*yawn* Now, where's my cup of coffee gone?

The Sleep Diaries: Day 3

Hmmmm... I'm becoming slightly disillusioned with this process now.  Partly because it's 6:10am and I've been up for over an hour already, and partly because the clock's honeymoon period is definitely over.  I think I was expecting instant success (even if I pretended otherwise), and so far there hasn't really been much improvement.

To be fair, Kalani did wake up a little later this morning (4:50am), and I did my usual thing of going into his bedroom twice to point at the clock, tell him it was night-time still and then put him back into bed.  However, he then cried at the door until it was wake-up time.  Luckily it was only for a few minutes.

I think that he may be a little young for the concept of the clock.  On one of my 'go back to sleep' visits, I pointed at the clock and asked what time it was.  He replied "Night Time" with great enthusiasm!  Really?  You're happy that it's night-time?  Then, when I went into his room once the clock had changed to the day-time sun image, I pointed at the clock again and asked what time it was, to which he replied "Night Time".

So, I think that Kalani believes that a clock is called 'Night Time'.

This wouldn't be the first time that we've accidentally misnamed something.  Kalani will probably go through his entire life believing that a toilet is actually called "Don't touch that it's dirty".

Anyway, we'll stick with it, because I prefer to have a plan, even if it's not totally working out, and it is early days still. (bwahahaha) 

The Sleep Diaries: Day 2

Before I get into today's post, I'd like to start with a kind of disclaimer.

If you have children who do sleep well (and it seems that most people we know have these freaky specimens - Dan and I don't think they're really children at all - more robot types), then I don't hate you.  I'm just insanely jealous of the huge amounts of sleep that you get.  I'm a little curious as to why you're reading this at all since you obviously don't need to, but I'm very glad that you are since it means that I'm not just writing to myself (which is hopefully not quite as bad as talking to oneself, but it's still not good).

Also, to everyone who's let me know of their success with this clock malarky - thank you, I 'm really glad that you've let me know that it worked for you. It's great to have your support and to know that I'm not wasting my time with us.

Okay, so that's covered all 4 of you who read this, so back to business.  It's only Day 2, but things are still going relatively well.

The clock was set for 5am, and K stayed asleep until 4.45 (which is a slight improvement on the last couple of days).  I had to go into his room twice to get him back into bed, and when I pointed to the clock and asked him what it meant when the moon was showing on the clock he said "Night Time".  I'm not sure if he understands what "Night Time" means, but you have to start somewhere!

Then, he stayed quiet until just after 5 when I'm hoping that he saw the sun come out on his clock (because it sure as buggery wasn't out in the sky) and knew that it was time to get out of bed.

So far, so good, though it has only been 2 days so far, and any improvements might just be a fluke.  Tomorrow I've changed his 'sun arrival' time to 5:15 so we'll see how that goes.

The Sleep Diaries: Day 1

I know that I'm going to be woken up really early, so why don't I go to bed earlier?  *yawn*

Anyway, last night I set K's clock for 5am which I thought was quite optimistic but I'm only prepared to set a clock for pre-5am if we're going on holiday somewhere.

As expected at 4.30 K woke up.  He climbed out of bed and stood at the door crying.

No problem.  I fell jumped out of bed, went into his room, showed him the clock, told him it was still night time, put him back into bed, tucked him in and left the room.  As I walked out of the room he called out "Night".  

Seriously?  Is it as easy as just buying a clock?

5 minutes later, just as I was going back to sleep (it's always the way), I heard a thump (as he climbed out of bed) and then more crying at the door.

*sigh* I guess it isn't going to be that easy after all.

I went in again and repeated the same process - pointed out the clock and told him it was still night time, tucked him in and left the room.

Then he slept/stayed in bed until 5.15.  Woo hoo.  To those of you with children who sleep well this probably doesn't seem like a big deal, but it really is for us.  Normally, once K's up for the day there's no getting him back to sleep, so the fact that he stayed in bed for at least another 30 minutes is a major victory.

I really hope this clock thing works.  I'm so tired all the time, I have no patience at all (not that I ever had that much to begin with) and I'm always cranky.

Fingers crossed.

The 'Go Back To Bleeping Sleep' Diaries

Well you might have realised that we're having big problems with K and his crazy early morning wake-ups.  So I've done some research and found out some good and some bad news.

The good news is that you can get these cool toddler wake-up clocks that change colour/image when it's time for the little tormentor one to get out of bed.  The idea is that you set the wake-up time to just after they normally wake up - even if that is 4.30 in the morning, then you go in and rave about how wonderful they are for waiting until the clock told them it was time to get up.  After a few days you change the wake-up time to 15 minutes later with the idea that they will slowly adjust to a later wake-up time and you will finally get some sleep.

The bad news is that most people with extreme early morning risers seem to just have to wait it out.  Apparently nothing works for the majority of people.  Keep in mind that I'm only basing this on what I've read online, and I'm guessing that all those people with children who do sleep well probably don't feel the need to let the rest of us know about it.  I'm kind of glad about this since we know a few people who have "good sleepers", and when they tell us how their wonderful child sleeps in until 7:30, sometimes 8:30 every morning, I feel like ripping off their well-rested, 8-hours-of-sleep-a-night heads and stuffing them down their necks.  Do I sound bitter?

Anyway, I'm not deterred by the disappointing news that I'm probably just going to have to wait this 'phase' out (though this 'phase' has lasted K's entire life so far) - instead I did what any desperate woman would do... I went shopping.

I did a bit of research into available clocks in St. John's, and found only 1 (not surprisingly).  I brought this today and then spent some time with K pretending to go to sleep and then waking up when the sun came out on the clock face.  We then read the book that came with the clock before he went to sleep (which thankfully he has no problems with... touch wood), and now the wait begins.

Soooooo, my idea now is that I'm going to attempt to document how this clock thing goes.  If it works then I'll let you know, so that if some other poor sleepless bugger stumbles upon this blog, then perhaps there'll be some advice that will actually help you to sort out your little darling's sleeping habits.  If it doesn't work, then it's a great opportunity for me to vent.  Win-win.

So here goes nothing.

The clock is set for 5am.

tick... tick... tick...