*YAWN*

I totally forgot how dreadful lack of sleep can be. Just thought I'd throw that out there, since it is past midnight and I am up. Baby is in the swing and I hope he will fall asleep soon. Although, even when he does...he's just teasing me. I'll be up a few hours later. How long does this last again?

Hate to tell ya, my oldest did not sleep through the night until he was over a year old

But, my second slept through the night, 12 hours straight, beginning at 3 months old

My third is somewhere right in the middle...some nights, he scares me how long he sleeps, other nights, I'd swear he has ants in his pants keeping him up at night.

It's the luck of the draw, I think.

my 9 year old does not sleep through the night and probably never will!

at least now he gets up, goes to the potty and gets himself a quick sip of water. sometimes he makes it back to his bed, sometimes we find him in the living room and most often lands in bed with his sissy.

i hear him most nights...but at least it doesn't require me to get up very often.

I was really lucky with my son, and he pretty much slept through the night from the start. I would put him in his crib until he woke up and then bring him to bed with us and nurse him while I slept.

My daughter, years ago, was horrible about sleeping. When up until I left her father when she was 5 months old, I had to drive her around in the middle of the night, because the only place she would sleep was in her car seat while the truck was moving. After we moved in to my parents' house, she had to sleep with me in order to sleep and that stuck until she was 4. At least now, at 8, she sleeps like a rock.

Now, I sleep deprive myself. I work from home all night long and have my son during the day and then my sister's kids 2 days a week...some days I get a good solid 3 hours of sleep. I am so not looking forward to losing those 3 hours of sleep.

It seems crazy that in college, in architecture school, I would stay up for days.

Carrie

Well my hubby and I have definitely been sharing in the sleep deprivation. I knew he was sleep deprived when...

the toddler needed a bottle and so he pulls out the gallon of milk and an empty bottle. Meanwhile, I had pulled out a bottle of juicy juice for me. There was about half of the bottle left and I was just craving it. I watched in disbelief as he poured the milk into my bottle of juice! I was thinking, do we mix our juice and milk? And then he realized what he had just done.

Oh well, there's goes my juice!

Well, here's what we're dealing with. Does anyone else have this problem and if so, how are you handling it.

Our three year old did not sleep through the night until he was over 12 months. From 12 until about 25 months, he was a pretty good sleeper. Last year, after the babies were born, he began going to bed at his regular time, but would only sleep 3 hours or so, like it was a nap, and would get up and ramble the house, waking everyone, making messes, creating havoc, etc., and WOULD NOT go back to sleep until 5 or 6 AM, and then sleep only an hour or two. After about 6 months of this, we began having him just sleep with us, so at least he would not wake the babies, or get himself hurt if we didn't hear him awaken. After having him sleep in the room with us, the waking up in the middle of the night stopped, but he would not go to bed at even close to a reasonable time. I'm ashamed to admit what time it is before we can get him to bed and sleep.

We've tried: cutting out ALL sweets and caffeine; naps, no naps, and only short naps; warm bath, story time and cuddles/rocking/singing; getting him up EARLY; lots of physical activity during the day; diet modification; plenty of individual time with him after babies are in bed; children's benadryl; bribery; threats; tears; prayer.

Our pediatrician said to put him in a 5-day a week school program, instead of the two day program he's in now, but we can't find one that fits our budget and schedule and that we are comfortable with. Next year he'll go 3 days a week.

He is not ADD; I may be willing to consider he's hyperactive. He shows no ill or negative physical symptoms or effects from getting less sleep than mommy and daddy and Dr. Spock would say is the normal amount of sleep for a 3 y/o. I'm about ready to just accept that he is one of those rare beings that simply needs less sleep than others (like Mom here). This will be great when he's pulling all-nighters in college, but he's 3 right now. And Mom and Dad could use a little quiet, alone time.

Any one care to comment, share or make suggestions?

Your stories are so funny and familiar. My first son had terrible sleep habits. It all started when he was a newborn, he would nurse all night until he was about 9 months. My husband stepped in and said enough is enough, you need sleep and this is crazy. Plus he started reading on the internet and found out that a 9 month old should be able to sleep through the night. So I read the book w/hubby "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" and followed it pretty much, it worked he then slept in his crib all night. Then we moved him in a big boy bed and he began to get out of bed 100x night. While I was pregnant I would lay down with him until he fell asleep. Rude awakening when we brought number 2 home and she wanted to nurse when I was putting him to bed. Hubby steps in again and says enough is enough. This is where you might question my parenting. I let my husband turn the locks around on my son's door. I stayed in the room with him the first night until he fell alseep but I did not lay down with him (this took 4 hrs until 1am, he is stubborn.) the next night we put him to bed, said goodnight and he got up once we told him that if he got up anymore we were locking the door and would open it when he fell asleep. Just the mere thought of being locked in kept him in his room. This technique may sound cruel but it has worked for both kids. We would NEVER keep them locked in there room all night. Now they sleep in the same room and my daughter usually wakes him up when she has lost "ta ta" and they come crawl in bed with us. Still not perfect but we are sleeping all night.

My son was a beautiful sleeper. He slept through the night from about 3 months on.
My daughter still wakes up and crawls into bed with me, but since she was bf'ed and my son wasn't, I am used to it and it doesn't disturb my sleep. Although she is going to be 5 in a few weeks, I don't know how much longer she will crawl into my bed, but to me it's ok. I know eventually she will outgrow this and she will be fine. I just see it as a lifestyle choice.