Since the babies were very little we have had the same night time routine. If Jeff is home we each rock a baby and sing three songs…ABC’s, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and Rock a Bye Baby…we then lay them down in their crib and leave the room. When Jeff is not home I do them one at a time, singing three songs and then down to bed. When they shared a room it was always Shenzie waking up crying which led to Heaten waking up. I try to keep them on the same schedule for the most part, but some days their sleep needs are different so I am flexible. Regardless of doing the EXACT same thing for both babies their entire lives they have very different sleeps. Heaten rarely wakes at night, sleeps 12 hours and wakes happy. However, if he does wake in the middle of the night it is NOT fun getting him back to sleep. Shenzie wakes crying multiple times a night and if she can’t put herself back to sleep we re-rock her and lay her back down. Most times she goes right to sleep with no problem. Since we never got in the habit of bringing them to our bed to sleep (I CANNOT sleep at all when they are in the same room as me), they do not like to lay in our bed. It is good that they don’t, but bad when they wake early I want to stay in bed and cuddle with them. Not happening. What I’ve learned this year:
* We do not make good sleepers, they are or they are not. While we can keep the bad habits away for the most part I think babies will either be good sleepers or not.
* White noise helps drown out the outside noise as well as another baby crying.
* Blackout shades on the windows really help, especially after day light savings time when they go to bed while it is still light out.
* When you’re in the middle of sleep hell it is hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
* Sleep deprivation sucks.
* When you are in the middle of sleep deprivation you get used to it. When you get sleep again and then it is ripped away it feels SO much harder.
* Coffee is my best friend. Espresso is my second best friend. Oh how I love thee.
* I am not one of the good sleepers. I can’t sleep at times because I am too busy worrying. I worry whether the babies are too cold, too hot, did we turn the fans off, if I wear my ear plugs will I hear them, did we close the garage, is the air temperature set to the right degree…etc. etc. I can’t sleep without ear plugs to drown out the outside noise (and Jeff’s snoring). I can’t sleep with the TV on, I need complete darkness. I can’t sleep with the babies in the room, I worry all night whether my tossing and turning is going to wake them. I have to concentrate on turning off my mind at night to sleep. I am not a morning person. I am not a night person. I am a day person. My goodness…sleep woman! Just sleep!
What do you all think? Are good sleepers made or born?
March 18th, 2008 at 10:39 am
Very astute… don’t you feel like having twins takes the pressure off? If you only had one bad sleeper, you could assume it’s you.
I am the big sleeper in our house. I slept 12+ hours a night while pregnant. I wake up more bc my husband gets up in the middle of the night to pee. My husband is the bad sleeper, the one who is always up late worrying.
March 18th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
hmmm….I think it’s both! I do think good sleepers can be made, but it is freaking hard work! and not something most parents want to put themselves through LOL!! I think some are born good sleepers…wish it had been that way in my house:)
March 18th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
God, I hope they are born and not made. If they are made then I dropped the ball…twice :).
March 18th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
OH man, you worry about a lot! I think it’s great that you sleep with earplugs. We put on an ocean sound cd every night in our room to drown out noises. Every little noise I hear I think someone is breaking in the house so that helps me not hear the noises. In the babies’ room they have a very loud humidifier that keeps them from hearing the TV that is right outside their door in the living room. I think white noise is a must.
March 18th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
I am a really sound sleeper, and S&J mostly have inherited that. I think sleep
is both genetic and learned. We definitely had trouble for 12 months until we
finally gave up and stopped cuddling them to sleep, letting them in our bed, etc.
The good thing for us is they still love to cuddle in the morning sometimes and
I wouldn’t trade that (though some mornings, like today, they’re just up
and there is no extra sleep).
By the way, I tagged you in a meme. Feel free to ignore it!