Regression
If you take a very active little boy (with red hair) who has never been a good sleeper and combine that with the 18 month sleep regression and add in a lot of strong will and independence you get a really tired Momma and Daddy.
Matt and I have learned to deal with the fact that Colton has never been, and never will be one of those babies people talk about being "such a great sleeper. I put him to bed at 8 and he sleeps until 8 in the morning". But, he was actually sleeping about 7 hours a night and it was awesome!! The past 2 weeks have been horrible. I feel like we have a newborn all over again.
I read some articles on "sleep regression". It seems that the 18 month sleep regression can be the hardest battle to face when it comes to sleep patterns/routines. I mean, Colton' last sleep regressions were difficult and exhausting enough, but this one at 18 months seems be one of the hardest. I think it's because there’s a discipline factor involved in this regression that wasn’t here in the earlier ones. The previous sleep issues didn’t have anything to do with defiant behavior on Colton’s part, but this one does. He is just too busy to sleep - he doesn't want to and he is letting us know it.
Being sleep-deprived always makes my job harder. Things that normally wouldn't be a big deal push me to a breaking point because I'm just T.I.R.E.D. Add in the fact that Colton is starting to throw temper tantrums over the most simple and crazy things, it just makes me feel like I'm not teaching him anything! Sometimes I feel like I am going to have this ungrateful, selfish, mean, uneducated person running around my house and I cry thinking about it! I'm with him all day, every day and I get the brunt of his frustration and melt downs! The stress of dealing with Colton's behavior compounds the exhaustion I'm already feeling. Ugh - this is the part of parenting you can't prepare for!! :-)
I want to be able to just tell Colton - if you sleep, you'll feel better, but his strong will keeps him from sleeping and he YELLS for me each time he wakes at night. It's not just a cry, he screams "heeeyyyyy. Mommmmmma. Heyyyyyy". If it wasn't at 1am, 4am and 6am it might be funny. And of course, the lack of sleep makes him cranky, which makes me cranky, which leads to more tantrums and temper fits and in my case - meltdowns!
Matt and I are not afraid to let Colton "cry (or scream) it out" the only problem is that Matt has to get up for work between 5:30-6:30 every morning and NOBODY is sleeping in this house with that going on. I bet our neighbors are even awake!
So - this is just another hurdle that we must cross and one day we will be able to look back and say "we did it. we survived. we made it". By then, hopefully our son will be a humble, polite, respectful and a decent young person who is thankful for his awesome parents!! :-)
Matt and I have learned to deal with the fact that Colton has never been, and never will be one of those babies people talk about being "such a great sleeper. I put him to bed at 8 and he sleeps until 8 in the morning". But, he was actually sleeping about 7 hours a night and it was awesome!! The past 2 weeks have been horrible. I feel like we have a newborn all over again.
I read some articles on "sleep regression". It seems that the 18 month sleep regression can be the hardest battle to face when it comes to sleep patterns/routines. I mean, Colton' last sleep regressions were difficult and exhausting enough, but this one at 18 months seems be one of the hardest. I think it's because there’s a discipline factor involved in this regression that wasn’t here in the earlier ones. The previous sleep issues didn’t have anything to do with defiant behavior on Colton’s part, but this one does. He is just too busy to sleep - he doesn't want to and he is letting us know it.
Being sleep-deprived always makes my job harder. Things that normally wouldn't be a big deal push me to a breaking point because I'm just T.I.R.E.D. Add in the fact that Colton is starting to throw temper tantrums over the most simple and crazy things, it just makes me feel like I'm not teaching him anything! Sometimes I feel like I am going to have this ungrateful, selfish, mean, uneducated person running around my house and I cry thinking about it! I'm with him all day, every day and I get the brunt of his frustration and melt downs! The stress of dealing with Colton's behavior compounds the exhaustion I'm already feeling. Ugh - this is the part of parenting you can't prepare for!! :-)
I want to be able to just tell Colton - if you sleep, you'll feel better, but his strong will keeps him from sleeping and he YELLS for me each time he wakes at night. It's not just a cry, he screams "heeeyyyyy. Mommmmmma. Heyyyyyy". If it wasn't at 1am, 4am and 6am it might be funny. And of course, the lack of sleep makes him cranky, which makes me cranky, which leads to more tantrums and temper fits and in my case - meltdowns!
Matt and I are not afraid to let Colton "cry (or scream) it out" the only problem is that Matt has to get up for work between 5:30-6:30 every morning and NOBODY is sleeping in this house with that going on. I bet our neighbors are even awake!
So - this is just another hurdle that we must cross and one day we will be able to look back and say "we did it. we survived. we made it". By then, hopefully our son will be a humble, polite, respectful and a decent young person who is thankful for his awesome parents!! :-)
Comments
Post a Comment