this sleepy mommy...
well, here i sit at 4am as ruby doesn't hardly sleep at all!!!!!!!!!!!!... count yourself blessed with sleeping children, as this' what i'm dealing with (or i should say, some nights, NOT dealing with)...
we adopted ruby (now age 3) from haiti back in July '05, so she's been home for a year & a half now... in haiti, it gets light out about 5am & then it's pitch black about 6:30pm, so their sleeping patterns are adjusted in that they wake & are 'ON' by 5am & they're in bed for the night between 6-7pm... out of all 5 of our bear cubs, ruby's the only one that's not a great sleeper... this' her normal routine (yes, it'll seem very strange, but for her, it's normal - UGH)...
she wakes up about 3am & since we've not been able to move to a bigger home (YET) & she's to share a bedroom with 2 of her siblings ages 3 & 4, she'll wake them up by smacking them in the face (she doesn't even behave this way during the day!), climbs on them, yells (VERY loudly) for them to get up, etc.... we've a baby monitor in their room, so i rush in there to find her sitting in bed, smiling as if she's accomplished what she set out to do... the other 2 are awake (not happy about it to say the least) & everyone's grouchy, except of course for ruby... i'll get onto her, making her roll over & face away from them & i'll leave the room, only to repeat this whole procedure several times over the course of the next 2 hours... she then drifts off to sleep somewhere around 4:30-5ish, but i hear her sweet squeals again on the monitor by (yes, BY) 6:15am... i rush in to get her before she wakes the other 2 (again) & drag her to our room & plop her into our bed so i can try & catch some ZZZ's before having to get up... she'll lay there & whimper, just loud enough to keep me awake or she'll flop from side to side, stomach to back, etc. all the while, i'm 'giving her the eye', smacking her leg (yes, we do smack!), etc... by this time, i'm exhausted & we do this until i've had it & get up... even when i get up, i make her lay there for at least 15-30 minutes, just so she doesn't think she's getting up (rewarded) for this behavior...
we begin our day at this point & it's pretty good, but she's the fussiest one of the 3 all day... if someone picks up something that she's had (she may've had it days ago, but if she's had it, played with it, wore it, etc., at any time in her life, then to her, IT'S HERS!) & she'll throw a HUGE drama queen show stopper, only to be put into timeout throughout the day (she's not the only one that visits that place everyday)... naptime comes at 1:30pm & usually, when i lay her down, she's asleep within about 30 mintues (sometimes she'll lay there forever it seems, before 'giving up')... she'll sleep for only an hour, but when she sleeps it's a hard sleep, then she's up... she'll go strong for the entire evening until bedtime comes which's 8:30-9pm & so sometime between 9-10ish she's out, until 3am, that is...
i've talked to the dr. about this & this' what i get from them (& others)
*try putting a gate at the door (we do this, but she doesn't even get out of bed!)
*put her to bed later in the evenings (we've made her stay up until midnight before & 3am still comes!... also, she attends the deaf school 3 days per week & she's to get up at 6am to catch the bus that comes at 6:35am)
*try taking her take naps away (we've tried this a lot, but she doesn't make it until nighttime & she's an absolute BEAR without that hour during the day... also, they have her take one at her school, so it'd do no good for me to do this 2 days/week & them to allow it 3 days/week... plus, she's an hour bus ride both ways, so she'd just sleep on the bus!)
*putting her to bed in another room (that's not possible with our house size & dynamics, but will be whenever we move!!)
*letting her cry it out/stay awake by herself (where am i to put the other 2 while this' going on?... also, 'if' i did put the other 2 somewhere, she'd just get up & play all night in her room, as she's done that before!!)
i'm just at a loss as to what to do, try, etc., to get her to sleep... several months ago, we thought that maybe if she'd wear her CI to bed, she'd sleep better (she'd not think she needed to get up & see what's going on as she'd hear that nothing was going on!)... the trouble we had with that's that she started taking her CI apart (batteries out, ear tubing off, etc.) & we didn't want to take the chance of her breaking or tearing it up... about messing with her CI, she NEVER touches it during the day, i think she does at night as she's awake & feels there's nothing else to do!!!... it makes it sound like she's a little terror & she's truly not... she's a very easy little girl (big in the drama department), but very good & easy, but requires no sleep at all & we all do!!...
any help, thoughts &/or prayers would be appreciated for this situation & this sleep mommy of 5 (3 of which are toddlers ages 3, 3 & 4)... thank you & good nite!!... (& the heart dr. said i need to limit my stress... HA!!)
we adopted ruby (now age 3) from haiti back in July '05, so she's been home for a year & a half now... in haiti, it gets light out about 5am & then it's pitch black about 6:30pm, so their sleeping patterns are adjusted in that they wake & are 'ON' by 5am & they're in bed for the night between 6-7pm... out of all 5 of our bear cubs, ruby's the only one that's not a great sleeper... this' her normal routine (yes, it'll seem very strange, but for her, it's normal - UGH)...
she wakes up about 3am & since we've not been able to move to a bigger home (YET) & she's to share a bedroom with 2 of her siblings ages 3 & 4, she'll wake them up by smacking them in the face (she doesn't even behave this way during the day!), climbs on them, yells (VERY loudly) for them to get up, etc.... we've a baby monitor in their room, so i rush in there to find her sitting in bed, smiling as if she's accomplished what she set out to do... the other 2 are awake (not happy about it to say the least) & everyone's grouchy, except of course for ruby... i'll get onto her, making her roll over & face away from them & i'll leave the room, only to repeat this whole procedure several times over the course of the next 2 hours... she then drifts off to sleep somewhere around 4:30-5ish, but i hear her sweet squeals again on the monitor by (yes, BY) 6:15am... i rush in to get her before she wakes the other 2 (again) & drag her to our room & plop her into our bed so i can try & catch some ZZZ's before having to get up... she'll lay there & whimper, just loud enough to keep me awake or she'll flop from side to side, stomach to back, etc. all the while, i'm 'giving her the eye', smacking her leg (yes, we do smack!), etc... by this time, i'm exhausted & we do this until i've had it & get up... even when i get up, i make her lay there for at least 15-30 minutes, just so she doesn't think she's getting up (rewarded) for this behavior...
we begin our day at this point & it's pretty good, but she's the fussiest one of the 3 all day... if someone picks up something that she's had (she may've had it days ago, but if she's had it, played with it, wore it, etc., at any time in her life, then to her, IT'S HERS!) & she'll throw a HUGE drama queen show stopper, only to be put into timeout throughout the day (she's not the only one that visits that place everyday)... naptime comes at 1:30pm & usually, when i lay her down, she's asleep within about 30 mintues (sometimes she'll lay there forever it seems, before 'giving up')... she'll sleep for only an hour, but when she sleeps it's a hard sleep, then she's up... she'll go strong for the entire evening until bedtime comes which's 8:30-9pm & so sometime between 9-10ish she's out, until 3am, that is...
i've talked to the dr. about this & this' what i get from them (& others)
*try putting a gate at the door (we do this, but she doesn't even get out of bed!)
*put her to bed later in the evenings (we've made her stay up until midnight before & 3am still comes!... also, she attends the deaf school 3 days per week & she's to get up at 6am to catch the bus that comes at 6:35am)
*try taking her take naps away (we've tried this a lot, but she doesn't make it until nighttime & she's an absolute BEAR without that hour during the day... also, they have her take one at her school, so it'd do no good for me to do this 2 days/week & them to allow it 3 days/week... plus, she's an hour bus ride both ways, so she'd just sleep on the bus!)
*putting her to bed in another room (that's not possible with our house size & dynamics, but will be whenever we move!!)
*letting her cry it out/stay awake by herself (where am i to put the other 2 while this' going on?... also, 'if' i did put the other 2 somewhere, she'd just get up & play all night in her room, as she's done that before!!)
i'm just at a loss as to what to do, try, etc., to get her to sleep... several months ago, we thought that maybe if she'd wear her CI to bed, she'd sleep better (she'd not think she needed to get up & see what's going on as she'd hear that nothing was going on!)... the trouble we had with that's that she started taking her CI apart (batteries out, ear tubing off, etc.) & we didn't want to take the chance of her breaking or tearing it up... about messing with her CI, she NEVER touches it during the day, i think she does at night as she's awake & feels there's nothing else to do!!!... it makes it sound like she's a little terror & she's truly not... she's a very easy little girl (big in the drama department), but very good & easy, but requires no sleep at all & we all do!!...
any help, thoughts &/or prayers would be appreciated for this situation & this sleep mommy of 5 (3 of which are toddlers ages 3, 3 & 4)... thank you & good nite!!... (& the heart dr. said i need to limit my stress... HA!!)
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