Life with two kids: Blessed, blessed sleep

[andrewducker]

Over 6 months ago, back before we started rebuilding the house, we started getting Gideon used to the idea of sleeping in his own bed. Jane would put him to sleep in it, and then he'd come through at some point in the night, when he woke up. This tended to mean we got at least 4 hours sleep in one block, which was a big step up from how things had been before then. And on two or three occasions we'd get a whole night's sleep in one go, which was amazing.

And then we moved into our temporary home for 3 months. Which became 5 months. And it was all a big change, and Gideon was having to share a bed with Sophia, and I'm not convinced we got more than 2 complete night's sleep the whole time we lived there.

And then we moved back home (about 6 weeks ago). And it was all change again, and we ended up with Gideon in our bed a lot. Particularly when he spent 10 days with a horrible cold that then turned into an ear infection that woke him up hourly every night and only improved when his eardrum perforated (the first we knew of what the cause was was when white gunk was all over one of his ears), relieving the pressure and making him a much happier chap.

By which point he was just *used* to sleeping in our bed all of the time, kicking each of us in the head repeatedly as he slowly rotated. So he'd go to bed at 8pm, wake up at 1am, and just come through to us, and commence the spinning kicks.

So on Friday evening we sat him down and said "This is your bed, and that is mummy and daddy's bed, and this is a clock that changes colour when it's time to come through." - and we then had 3 amazing night's sleep in a row, the first time that's happened since Sophia was born almost 6 years ago. And then he had a cold that brought him through with coughing and a sore nose at 1am. But the next day he slept in his own bed. And last night he woke up at 4am, clearly unhappy, so I got into bed with him to give him a hug. At which point he pushed me back out of his bed, gave me a grumpy look, rolled over, and went back to sleep.

I'm beginning to think that this might be a long term change for the vastly better, and sleep will become the norm rather than the exception. Fingers crossed!

Comments

[jack]

Aw, well done. Fingers crossed!

[fub]

"Gideon's Spinning Kick Special" sounds like the finishing move in a fighting game...

I love how he pushed you out of his bed, like: "No! This is my bed, go sleep in your own!" I wish you many restful nights!

[andrewducker]

Yeah - Sophia did the same when I moved her through to her bed (at 2.5, when Gideon came along). The first night I slept in with her. The second night she pushed me out and told me no. I was delighted!

[andrewducker]

Thank you!

[bens_dad]

We had a clock like that that spent the night showing *blue*. This seemed to disturb Ben's sleep so we had to abandon it :-(

[andrewducker]

Sophia likes having lots of light, and so the room is more lit than I can deal with at night. Gideon isn't so worried, but seems to be coping alright with it at the moment.

(And I think we have exactly that clock.

[marymac]

Oh that's brilliant.

I've been trying to train Ultan out of getting me up at 5am, but he's a budding little hacker, so "You have to stay in your room until the sun comes out on Yoto" just leads to him bringing me Yoto at 5am and demanding I turn the sun on.

We're trying running the legs off him every evening instead.

[andrewducker]

I think we're lucky that Gideon actually sleeps until 7-ish. He was coming through earlier, but then going back to sleep. He doesn't go to sleep until 8:30 though, which probably helps with that.

[bearshorty]

It will happen! Then sleep will be glorious! My girls still come to my bed when they are sick, but there comes a time when they stop coming at night and everything is so much better.

[channelpenguin]

What a window into a totally other world for me! No kids, but a cat (who is actually very good, and rarely kicks, but who is also very convinced that I need to get up and feed both of us as soon as it gets light (which is 5. Because of the streetlight that comes on then). Auto feeders don't help - he just comes back after for either a snooze or to remind me to get up!

Also, remind me to tell my mother what an easy time she had with me and my sister!

[cellio]

Here's hoping!

[anef]

Excellent news! Best wishes that this continues to improve.