Ok, I love being a mom, but these days I dread night-time and trying
to get Kayla to go to sleep. Haley has great sleep habits and most
nights will go to sleep between 8-9pm (and stay asleep) without a
struggle. A lot of the time I can even put her in her crib still awake
and she will smile up at me and then go to sleep on her own after I
leave the room. I started off trying to get them to have a bedtime
maybe about a month ago when I started figuring out their tired
signals for naps and bedtime. Haley took to it after a little work and
consistency, but Kayla is another story. For about 2 weeks straight I
did the same bedtime routine with both of them. Bottle around 7pm,
ready to go to sleep between 8-9pm. I would rock Haley first and put
her down, then Kayla and put her down. Kayla would wake up after no
more than 20 minutes so I would rock her back to sleep. She would
continue to wake up for 2-4 hours straight before she finally gave up
and stayed asleep for at least 3 hours. So we're talking for 2 weeks
straight it would take me 2-4 hours each night (from about 8pm-
midnight) to get Kayla to sleep. After those 2 weeks and no luck in
getting her to see what bedtime means I threw in the towel. I am so
frustrated. Now I just take her to bed with me and sneak her into her
bed after she's asleep, but it's usually late which means no quality
time for DH and I, and it makes for a very tired and drained mommy. I
was just looking for about an hour of time with my DH at night before
our bedtime, but that hasn't happened yet. I guess it's just
frustrating because it would have happened by now if Kayla was as easy
as Haley. And, then I hate it when people get annoyed at me for being
frustrated because "I wanted this" - ugh! It doesn't mean I shouldn't
still have the right to moan and groan over how hard it can be. And,
even though I know there is no way an infant can be malicious
sometimes I feel like she is secretly snickering under her breath
because she's won - lol! Basically I think she really just wants to be
in my bed and not in her crib (she's the most attached to me of the
two), and I feel like I was not strong enough to see it through. Is
she just not ready yet? I have tried not giving solids right before
bed, making sure their nap or naps are at good times during the day so
as not to interfere with bedtime, making sure they are not overtired
at night, rolling blankets to tuck around their lower bodies,
sometimes DH has better luck getting them to sleep (sometimes),
etc..., etc... HELP!!! It is just emotionally draining after my day is
over to have to deal with this every night. Also, Kayla is a major
spitter upper after most every meal, while Haley has only spit up
twice in the past month! I get puked on many times every day. And,
even though it's usually a small amount each time in comparison to how
much of her food she keeps down it is still very frustrating to smell
like puke every day. Now, this may be part of why she has trouble
going to sleep at night, but I think it is very suspicious that even
on the occasional day that she doesn't have puking problems she still
has sleeping problems, and even when her tummy seems upset she will
most times go right to sleep in my bed. Even naps are difficult unless
I lay with her in my bed first. I have decided to call her
pediatrician tomorrow (he has been trying different things for her
puking such as medication/gentleease formula, etc...). And, any tips
or ideas from you guys would be much appreciated! Thanks for listening
to my rant!

Butterflyluvr

P.S. Mid-post I had to get up three times to go put Kayla back to
sleep - and the saga continues...!!!

Archived from group: alt>infertility>parenting