Sleep is at a premium in any family house. From birth onwards, parents know well the hot, grainy, sore eyes that feel like they’ve had microwaved sand poured into them, the bone-deep ache that drags you into fits and fights and lack of creativity, the lethargy that dogs your days and saps the colour from your interactions.
There are kids that sleep, and kids that don’t. Just as Bill Gates is reputed to need only a robotic three hours sleep in order to be a supergenius, there are children that refuse to succumb to elephant tranquiliser.
As Doodaddy says over at his blog, if you do one thing right, teach your child how to sleep.
At the moment, ex-hammock (there should be a new periodisation: WH With Hammock, and PH Post Hammock), Tiggy’s set up is this:
- Portable CD player with the soundtrack to the Cirque du Soleil show Allegria on sotto voce
- Succession of different blankets
- Succession of different softies
- Gentle hand motion from male parent on mattress near her
- Flips from stomach to back accompanied by the declaration ‘other side, other side’
It’s particularly hard on Patrice, who’s still breastfeeding, because Tiggy still asks to ‘bop’ (her word for breastfeeding) during the night. Patrice has probably averaged 5 or 6 hours of sleep a night for the last two years, which ranks her in the top echelon of amazing human beings as far as I am concerned, and cracks the World Health Organisation’s recommendation for duration of breastfeeding…
doodaddy said,
Tuesday, 13 May 2008 @ 6:12 pm
Oh, yeah, we breastfed for over two years, although with pumping since I’m a SAHD. But that definitely had an impact. We do our best to feed her up before bedtime and she can usually last the night — but if she doesn’t, then it’s definitely early-morning bottles!
Thom said,
Wednesday, 14 May 2008 @ 4:32 pm
Two years is monumental in anyone’s estimation. That’s great that your partner could express and that Boobaby didn’t mind having her milk from a bottle during the day. Patrice is currently operating (mostly) under a ‘never offer, never refuse’ policy, and there are some days — particularly the weekends where she’s around more — where Tiggy won’t ask for a long time. But week nights when Patrice returns home. Sheesh! And it does make a big difference having a big feed just before bedtime…