Why I'm So Exhausted

I am exhausted! Let me say it again. I am exhausted!

You would think I had a newborn in the house…no I don’t.  It’s just my Baby. I’m referring to my toddler who refuses to sleep on her own.

For the past week, she has decided that she does not want to sleep without her mommy. Sometimes, even her daddy. This isn’t the first time this has happened. In fact, about a month ago, we went through this same thing for almost 2 weeks.

Baby is a good sleeper for the most part. We have a routine for naptime and bedtime. After I read her favorite book, I put her down in her crib and tell her I love her and I say goodnight. Then I leave the room. She is awake when I leave the room and she puts herself to sleep.

Often when I tell people about her sleeping habits, they’re amazed that she can sleep on her own. I was always happy and grateful for that.

Now, I am utterly exhausted and frustrated. I am literally at my wit’s end about what to do and how to handle it.

This is her usual routine now. We still do our same naptime and bedtime routine except that when I put her down in her crib she starts crying and stands up. I still tell her I love her and goodnight then I leave the room. She then continues to cry after I leave. The crying escalates to screams. She calls me and her daddy. She asks us to take her down from her crib. This usually goes on for at least 30 minutes. She may quiet down for a little while, maybe 5 minutes. Then it starts again.

In fact right now, she is crying and screaming, “mommy and daddy”! She has been crying for the last 45 minutes or so. Today she fell asleep on the way home from the store. I put her down in the crib while she was partially awake. (She woke up when I took her out of the car seat). After about an hour, she woke up screaming and crying for me.

So, this may not seem strange but her usual naptime lasts 2-3 hours. Not too mention that she only had a 15 minute nap yesterday because of all this crying and screaming. Last night, she had an interrupted sleep due to her crying and screaming episode that happened about 3 hours into her sleep.

I’ve tried so many things but all have seemed to fail. I guess maybe I should keep a sleep log which I haven’t done. I have tried other techniques from  Dr. Weissbluth’s book, “Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child”.

So now what should I do?

• Keep a sleep log
• Reread “Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child”, especially the chapter pertinent to my child’s age
• Search the internet for helpful advice
• Be patient, persistent, and consistent
• Pray often!

I think that hardest part will be having patience. With my second child, I seem to be less patient. Maybe it’s because Baby is so different than Princess when it comes to sleep issues. I know people say you shouldn’t compare but it’s so hard since my frame of reference is from my sleep training experience with Princess. Then I again, I have to attribute some of my impatience with my age. I mean now that I’m older (remember closer to 1/2 a century than not) I can’t tolerate lack of sleep as much as I could when I only had 1 child.

So, what’s a middleaged mom to do?

PRAY!

[Via http://confessionsofamiddleagedmom.wordpress.com]