Sleep

How is it that I have a baby who routinely sleeps through the night, and a preschooler who can’t seem to? I haven’t wanted to jinx it by writing about it, but Nate does in fact sleep through the night, and has been doing so for over a month. This is so anathema to me — Alex didn’t start sleeping through regularly until he was about 19 months old, so a baby doing so at seven months is just amazing to me. It’s not anything I did, it’s just him! He goes down (often, from still awake) somewhere between 8 and 8:30 and stays down until somewhere between 6:30 and 7 am. Every once in a while he stirs for a moment, but if I hang tight he sooths himself back down in a mere minute or two. Such a contrast from the way Alex was at the same age.

In fact, Nate seems to prefer falling asleep on his own rather than in my arms. I know when he pulls off the breast and seems sqirmy, he is better off in his crib rather than in in my lap. He gratefully takes his taggie and goes right to sleep. Whereas Alex at that age was a bear to get to sleep anywhere but my arms (and don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the cuddles!) and would instantly pop awake and scream if I didn’t put him down just-so.

Alex, on the other hand, has been having some sleep issues as of late. The poor dear is terrified of wetting his bed (though I haven’t pushed him to wear underwear at night; he is the one who insists he doesn’t need pull ups at all). I have tried to limit his liquid intake at bed time, and he is now obsessed with not drinking at night even if he is dying of thirst. He wakes up in the night saying he needs medicine to keep him from peeing his bed (and rather than fight, I give him “placebo medicine,” ie, a teaspoon of water in a meds measuring cup). He actually asks for “placebo medicine mixed with water” sometimes, as that was my explanation for it tasting like, well, water.

This past Monday was the worst — Alex woke up around 2 am and just couldn’t get back to sleep. I spent 30 minutes on the floor of his room, and everytime I tried to get up he freaked out again. He *finally* fell back asleep and I couldn’t. As you might guess, the next day wasn’t my most productive.

The few nights that they all sleep, Tucker often wakes me. Someday I will sleep through the night again!