Tuesday, May 4, 2010

OS/NS Mom's Unofficial Sleep Study

I just woke up from a three hour nap. This is a rarity, since my son (who will be two on Thursday) does not like to sleep. However, he is sleeping in "my bed" right now. "My bed" is in quotes because it is not my bed anymore, but rather belongs to everyone living in this house including me, Wil, Ari and the cats.

Every night, he sleeps with me. Whether it is in our bed, on the couch or in his bed. As one veteran mom deemed it, we are playing "musical beds" in my house each night.

I wanted to see if my sleep situation was unique, so I asked parents on the playground with toddlers: how they are sleeping these days?

These are the results of my study:

There are four sleep groups I came across--

1. The kid is still trapped in the confines of her crib. She may or may not wake up in the middle of the night for some comfort. But mainly stays in the crib.

2. The kid is still trapped in the crib but eventually (at some point during the night) ends up in the parents' bed.

3. There is not crib involved, the kid exclusively co-sleeps with the parents.

4. My group (containing only me) my child starts out in one place (our bed, his bed, the couch) and periodically rotates between these three places throughout the night.

I wouldn't mind sleeping together in the same bed, if Ari actually slept! But instead he wants to dance on the bed, unintentionally kick me in the face and scream with delight or horror until he exhausts himself, which can take a long time.

Here's where you come in: what's your sleep situation? Is your kid sleeping through the night, or are you ready to have a 20th cup of coffee and/or throw yourself out the window because you're so tired?

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7 comments:

  1. A little of both. They sleep in their own beds, but Lyla was coming into ours for a loooonng time. Incidentally, we just put them together and said "if they wake each other up, TOUGH!" and they actually haven't! Yay! But we still don't sleep enough. I don't know what we'll do when they are in beds. Z opens doors. :\

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  2. Ari opens doors too! So even if he does fall asleep in his own bed, he'll bust out and come into ours! That's great that they're in the same room!

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  3. My 2 yr old hated his crib, he would wake up 2times during the night and it took sooo long to go back to sleep. But he is alomst three now and ever since we put him in his big boy bed he has been pretty good. He has night terrors so we musical beds maybe 2x a night . My 11m old is another story. He starts off in his bed but wakes up at 11 and then sleeps in our bed (and nurses like4-5 times). I am hoping when I finish nursing he will sleep better but who knows.

    I can't figure out if good sleepers are naturally that way or if it is all in parenting style. I am way too soft regarding this. I can't bear to let babies cry.

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  4. Sorry I meant that his night terrors wake him up maybe two times a week,

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  5. My 18 month old is still in his crib.. sleeps through the night, 8pm until 8-9am.. rarely wakes up during the night. Loves his sleep, like I do!
    Thinking about putting him in a toddler bed soon, but a bit nervous that he'll be getting up during the night when everyone is in bed.

    On the few occasions he's slept in our bed with us (usually if we're on an overnight trip away from home), he hasn't slept AT ALL.. just wanted to be up, playing all night.. not good for anyone involved.

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  6. I'm sure T's habits will change, cause she's just barely 8 months old this week, but she sleeps in her crib from like 8:30pm-7:30 am, sometimes later. On Tuesday she slept until 10:00am, it was freaky. The only time she'll sleep with us is on vacation and it SUCKS because she doesn't sleep and neither do we, which results in her being a grump-ass the next day. Also when she was teething really bad like 2 weeks ago I put her in bed with me and she slept in our bed as a newborn but beyond that she didn't want to sleep with us.

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  7. Sara- Ari has night terrors too!
    http://www.oldschoolnewschoolmom.com/2010/01/night-terrors.html

    Mommy to Casey- You are so lucky! I feel like when the bed comes out, that's when it's harder to keep them in one place. But you never know. Each kid is different.

    Amanda- Yeah, Ari was an awesome sleeper at that age too. He slept from 7:30pm to 6:30am. But then when he turned around 16 months he started busting out of his crib and his room. That's when all this bed hopping started! But I hear you about not getting sleep when she's in the bed!! That stinks! I love sleeping! I never get to do it anymore.

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