Tucker gave up his morning nap about the same time he started crawling. Five months old, and the little man would only sleep in the afternoon. He could be completely exhausted, falling apart at the seams for no reason whatsoever, but would refuse to sleep until after he had eaten lunch. And when that happened he would finally pass out for an average of three hours. His nighttime sleep was wonderful, however: 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Every. Single. Night. Until thirteen months...
Thirteen months was when everything changed. Suddenly Tucker was screaming in the middle of the night, something we soon found out was the result of night terrors. Awful. Listening to your child screaming and not being able to comfort him- (since he was still asleep and crying the doctor advised the best thing to do was to let him cry it out. My touch could make everything a lot worse). Awesome. This night terror pattern took away from his blissful night's rest and ended up affecting him taking an afternoon nap. In other words, he began to fight me on going to bed... all of the time.
Fast forward to twenty-two months and we have this: a child who should be taking an early nap in the afternoon (all of the symptoms of exhaustion have started to show: tears for no reason, tantrums, falling into a heap of exhausted mess, and laying down on his love blanket in the middle of the floor...), but alas- when he is put to bed he suddenly perks right up. And for the next two hours I am making trips up the stairs to his room to beg, plead, bribe, and discipline him in every attempt to encourage sleep. When he finally gives in he sleeps for three hours. And Maddie wakes up.
Now the battle goes into nighttime sleep. I read the other day in a parenting book that getting your child(ren) on a predictable and regular schedule will aid them in going to bed happy and waking up happy- whether it's naps or bedtime, the kids should be happy. I sit on the couch, listening to my son's read-a-long bear saying "I'm momma bear. The book talks to me, and I answer. Press a button on the book to get started." And I am thinking, "Well, he's happy, but he is not going to sleep!" Meanwhile Maddie is screaming from her room- making it clear that the teenage years are going to be delightful- and making me seriously question what on earth the author of that book was using to bribe their children with.
Or maybe it's just me? Am I really the only one in mommy-world who has children who fight tooth and nail when it comes to sleep?
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