just sleep dear child.

I'm just going to start by saying that last night (or early this morning) I wrote an entire post in my head.  At the time, I was also being kicked in the back by an 8.5 month old little boy who insisted on sharing my bed. 

This is about sleep.  Why?  Because it's been the topic of my life since Ty was born.  Sleep is something that should be so easy and yet, it hasn't been.  You just lay down, close your eyes and GO TO SLEEP.  It also helps if you stay sleeping for more than an hour or two.  We never had this struggle with Delia.  She slept in her crib from almost the very beginning, not wanting or needing to cuddle.  She woke 1-2 times during the night while she was breastfed and then not at all after she switched to formula.  She slept 11-12 hours.  Recently we have entered the world of nightmares with her so her sleep has been disrupted as of late, but that isn't the norm.  And then along came Ty.  I spent the first 5 weeks on the couch with him, either nursing throughout the night or just holding him.  I felt like a zombie.  Then he tricked us for about a week and a half, sleeping for 5-7 hours straight right before his 2 month appointment.  AND THEN he really showed us..... he just stopped sleeping.  He would wake constantly and cry, the only thing consoling him was being in my bed next to me and nursing.  I could handle this some nights but not every night.  I love my sleep.  I really do.  I've never been a morning person and having kids didn't change that.    I am not against the idea of bed sharing, but it's really not for me for the long term.  Now, we have made leaps and bounds since those early months with the help of a childhood friend who reached out to me after seeing my desperate posts on facebook.  Did you know there was such a thing as sleep consultants for children?  Yeah, I didn't either.  Well, Isis Parenting is one such company that offers these services.  I learned a lot about babies and their sleep habits that I didn't know before.   At the same time we started our sleep support, we made some drastic changes to Ty's diet.  Together they have brought about great improvement.  I'm obviously still not sleeping through the night and who knows when Ty will.  He still has very off nights which could be attributed to the typical teething and/or the fact that I think he's on the brink of taking a few steps on his own.  In a couple years I know I'll look back and think this time wasn't really that bad.  Seth will probably always tell you otherwise.  For now, I spend most mornings guzzling coffee though and thinking that maybe tonight will be the night.  Maybe tonight he will sleep for 8-10 straight hours.