Hey who has a great sleep pattern and habits?? I know this one area of my life is probably by far the number one area that is responsible for how I feel on every level: Mental, Physical, Emotional, Spiritual and whatever other levels you can think of including.
I am searching for people’s input to write a guide for sleep habits and patterns. I am especially interested in parents who have had newborns in the last 10 years and what their tricks, tips and techniques are or have been to have a healthier baby, toddler and beyond. What wisdom can you all share with me so the sleep guide is a killer information product??
I am going to be going through some rough nights no doubt in a few weeks time since our baby is due March 21. I welcome any and everyone’s thoughts on this topic even if you do not have kids yourself. If you remember your friends, parents or relatives sleep training techniques I would love to hear from you too.
Thanking everyone in advance for their help.
Tony D.
Hi Tony,
Sleep is exactly what we’ve been struggling with for the last 4.5 years. Samantha didn’t start sleeping through the night until she was 2.5. At 8 weeks old, she was up at 5am, dozed for about 20 minutes in the morning, and another 20 minutes just before dinner. Then, she’d actually fall asleep around 11pm until 1am, up until 3am, and sleep again until 5am. That was basically her pattern until she was about 6 months old, when the 20 minute naps went out the window and she was up from 5am-11pm, and still waking for a 1am feeding and a 3am feeding. Just before Sammie turned 2, Brian was born. The two would never sleep at the same time, and Glen and I were sick for pretty much the first year of Brian’s life (the kids were fine). At least Brian would have a 2 hr nap during the day, but he didn’t start sleeping through the night until just after Xmas 2008 (when he turned 2 and a half). We read all the books. We tried co-sleeping. We hired a sleep coach. Nothing worked. My parents actually apologized to me one day, saying they felt they had cursed me by spending so many years wishing I’d have a baby just like I was (by the way, they claim by the time I was able to walk, they would just go to sleep and let me stay up), and felt terrible that I wound up with 2 babies just like I had been as an infant. My doctors advice was “throw away the books. Follow your instincts. You will get through this, they will sleep eventually, if you can get live in help, do it.” Oh yeah, and my dr added that even though I’m eating well and walking 5 km pretty much every day, I shouldn’t even think about losing these 10 extra pounds until I’m getting at least 8hrs sleep/night for more than 30 nights in a row. Which, had the kids not gotten colds in Jan and Feb, might have happened!
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