Vent and Sleep Help

SaraLouiseBride08

The last 3 days have been shitty in every way I can even imagine. I'm on the verge of a break down.

My parent's house was robbed while we were out of town for Thanksgiving. First estimate was just a few things, valued around $3k. We kept thinking, "What was in that empty spot in the closet?" BAM! Irreplacable family heirloom silver. Besides bewing worth an assload of money, it has been passed down from from Great-Grandmother, and I had plans of passing it to Olivia some day. I'm just SO upset about this. People suck. Big time. Thieves especially.

But more to the point ... another thing that's got my stress level up so high is we've had complete and total sleep break down in our house. And I've done a bad, bad thing. Three nights in a row, she's slept with us.

For about 3 or 4 weeks, she's been crying. Crying before naps, crying before bed - whereas she used to give me a kiss, lay down fully awake, and put herself to sleep. The crying has been getting so bad, I've been spending 4-6 hours a night putting her to sleep (first bed time and after her night feeding, combined time). Rocking her to sleep doesn't work - no matter how long I wait after she falls asleep, she is screaming before I leave the room. Ferber hasn't worked, plain old CIO hasn't worked (well, CIO for 25 minutes - that is about as long as I can make it. She was shaking and choking and sobbing, and now I'm crying thinking about it).

Is this a phase?! What can I do?! I'm dying here. Help me see what I can't through my lack of sleep.

bobcatsteph

I'm so sorry about the burglary, that really sucks!

Oh girl, once you start letting them sleep with you, it's so hard to break that habit, which is why we have a 2 3/4 year old sleeping in between us every night. I just can't do CIO..so she's still in bed with us.

We talk about her big girl room and she's volunteered to start the night in there a few times (and made it a few hours before crawling in with us). We're just going to keep talking about it and wait until she's ready to make the move.

Of course, that may not be the advice that you're looking for and someone else might have a better solution.

ali-1411

So sorry about the theft, that sucks. 

Sleeping - my kids always went through phases when they slept with us but I was always able to get them back in their beds.  Maybe I was just lucky, but I would always - always!!! - start them off in their own bed.  If they wander in at midnight or won't stop crying, then I'd bring them to bed.  But I'd just keep putting them in their beds at bedtime and after a few nights they'd sleep through again.

Other sleep issues - she's 11 months?  She probably doesn't need that night feeding.  Have you read the Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child?  Its so much more than simply CIO.  There's a routine you should follow all day long, from the time of their first nap and second nap and how to approach bedtime.  I can't rec'd that book enough.

SaraLouiseBride08

I don't mind her sleeping with us in general, but I don't get very good sleep, and I don't think she does either. I know long-term it's not a good solution for us, and I'm so afriad I'm building a habit right now!

I have Healty Sleep Habits and that stupid book puts me to sleep. I'm too tired to read something so boring She's got a pretty good routine. Up at 6-6:30, first nap at 9. She's dropping her third nap right now and so usually takes her second nap around 2. Then she is clearly ready for bed at 7-7:30 ish depending on how long her second nap is. I know I should drop the night feedings, since she just picked them up around 6.5 months, LOL. I used to actually like them, because she'd wake up, eat while I stole some cuddles, and immidiately go back to sleep. But now, she won't go back to sleep! That's usually when she ends up in our room.