Sleep Training

One thing I've read over and over again about raising little people is that sleep training is a process. It doesn't end when they start sleeping through the night as infants; they regress, they change schedules, you have to retrain them over and over again...

Last night I put Kaycie to bed at 7.  Her normal bedtime has been 8 for a while now, but for the past few nights we've bumped it back to give her a little more rest. A week or so ago her internal alarm reset itself for 5am. My internal alarm is set for something closer to 8:30 or 9. This is a problem. Five in the morning is not a reasonable time for anybody in my household. Even the dog is asleep at 5am. But not my little doodle bug. No, she's taken to climbing out of bed, sneaking quietly into our room, climbing into our bed, and bouncing up and down yelling, "Mickey Mouse!"

Um, no.

Going to bed at 8 and getting up at 5 was leaving her a bit... Grumpy. Eight to nine hours of sleep wasn't cutting it for this little almost-two-year-old, she needs at least 10-12 to be a happy camper. She hasn't been a very happy camper lately. We tried keeping her up later in hopes she'd wear out and sleep later. No dice, just got less sleep overall. Thus, pushing her bedtime up to 7, giving her an extra hour of rest.

This actually started a few weeks ago with her getting up at 7. Then 6:30. Then 6. I was tolerant, just because I like to sleep late doesn't mean my kid does, and if she is going to be an earlier riser then I'll have to adjust. But not to 5am. I started putting her back to bed and telling her she had to stay in bed until she could see the sunshine coming through her window. That should be around 6:30 or 7, which is reasonable. I thought we had worked that out, but this morning I ended up putting her back in bed 4 times before she finally fell back asleep. That extra hour or so she gets after falling back asleep helps a lot, too. Unfortunately, the falling back asleep part hasn't been so easy for me.

Shocking as it may sound, I haven't been sleeping well anyway. Pregnancy and all. Having a 30lb jumping bean on my head well before dawn hasn't helped any. This week I've been tired like I haven't been since Kaycie was a newborn. Exhausted. Last night I had planned to run to the store for some emergency groceries (we're one sippy cup away from out of milk!) but no sooner than I put her to bed at 7 I laid down on the couch and fell asleep. I woke up a little later and took myself to bed. I slept until she woke me up at 5:15. Today has been a much better day! Unfortunately, going to bed at 7 every night isn't really feasible. I'd like to see my husband at some point, and I had things I needed to do last night. But for right now, getting 10 hours of sleep was exactly what I needed. Now if I can just figure out how to get my kid to sleep until 7 or 8, life will be excellent.