I Heart Sleep

For the last few years of my life sleep has been a major issue, at first there was the typical pregnancy complaints – aches/pains and needing the toilet constantly. Then came along my first bundle of joy, for the first few weeks it was pumping through the night and then once she got home up feeding every few hours.

Months passed and little changed, we would try to get her to sleep in her own bed but it always left me exhausted and getting no sleep at all. We would be lucky to get her to go more than 3 hours without feeding. Then i got pregnant again…….

Now i had to yet again deal with the typical pregnancy complaints while breastfeeding/dealing with a toddler through-out the night. If i got 3 hours without waking up once it was an excellent night .

Then came bundle of joy number two and i was convinced i would never get to sleep again.

Straight from the beginning Eilidh was a much better sleeper than Rebecca and would sometimes go 5 hour stretches. What was even better was i was sleeping in the living room leaving DH and Rebecca the bedroom and with me not there she was not waking the same way ,

most nights she would wake once and DH would bring her to me for a quick feed then she would go back down. It was up and down though and for the first few months i would be up ever few hours. Eilidh seemed to be getting worse rather than better, waking hourly if by herself and around every 15 minutes or so if i tried to sleep with her. We thought we would try her in her cot to see if it helped and as if by magic that was her sleeping all night. Now has she slept all night every night since then? No .Shes sleeps through the night more often than not and thats good enough for me.

With Eilidh in her own bed i moved back into mine, Rebecca obviously happy to have her mummy back reverted back to feeding sometimes hourly – for the first time i was getting extremeley frustrated with her as i felt if my four month old could sleep through then so could my 19 month old. I made up my mind that she was getting night weaned soon.

As if by magic a few weeks back Rebecca decided that sleeping through the night would be something she would do on a regular basis. She is 100% in our bed and still may wake in the evening before i go to bed but once im in bed its rare for her to wake up at all these days. She is up around 5.30 most mornings but its a good trade off.

So the point of this rather long winded post is that for the first time in over two years im actually getting sleep, and i mean real uninterrupted sleep – sometimes getting 8 whole hours before waking up. I do try to be in bed early sleeping for 10 at the latest to fit it all in.

I no longer dread bedtime, i no longer find myself in tears as the evening winds down and i feel myself getting tired – dreading the night ahead. I actually get excited about going to sleep, which
is something i did’t think would happen for a long while yet.