I knew this mothering gig was going to have good days and bad days, good nights and some horrid nights.  I didn’t have any particular  expectations about how wonderful or how awful some of it might be. I came into this role thinking that I’d wing it and do the best I could along the way.  But sometimes I start questioning that attitude – is that reasonable, or is this okay?

At 13.5months of age, little miss Daina is still not sleeping all that well at night. Admittedly we have had improvements over the last couple of months – but geez, it’s still hard.  Most (read 90%) nights, I’m up at least 4 times a night. The most sleep I’m managing in  a row is 2.5hrs (for me) – Daina might go somewhere between3.5 – 4 hrs in a row.  Take last night, she went to sleep around 6.45pm, hollered at around 9pm – took about 5 mins to settle. Then at 10pm, another holler and took about 45 mins to settle. She then slept until 11.30pm – another 5 mins to settle.  Then the big sleep until about 1.30am. Thought I’d settled her and she was awake about 15 mins later. Bought her into bed with us and she slept soundly until around 7am.

When she wakes it isn’t just a little whimper – it’s a full on scream (as opposed to cry) – which is enough to wake the dead. Leaving her to cry only agitates her further and if you leave it too long without attending to her she’ll void her bowels – just the thing you want at some wee hour of the morning.

This pattern has been going on for almost her entire life! And needless to say, I’m bloody exhausted. We have had some good nights where she will sleep for 10hours at a time, but generally the best scenario is around 4-6hours at a time.

We’ve tried everything one can think of – controlled crying – doesn’t work as she does a number 2. Music – works with intermittent and inconsistent success, patting – same, cuddling and singing lullabies – most consistently successful. Lavender essential oil in the bath doesn’t help either. I’ve also spoken with Tressilian a number of times and I’ve done everything to the letter with her and still no success. I have tried these things for weeks on end – being consistent and firm each time. After 3-4 weeks and no change I figure it isn’t working and time to try something else.

So I’m just guessing I have a child who for whatever reason isn’t that interested in sleeping. She’s very active and generally happy during the day so I’m trying not to be too concerned. But I’m worn out.

If anyone has any suggestions, please share…