Our Endless Sleep Battle

So as many of you know, back when Ava got sick, a month ago, she stopped sleeping.

We went from a schedule of: Up at 7:30 am, napping for about 3 hours beginning around 12:30, then down for the night around 9:00pm. She would sleep all the way through the night.

WOULD being the operative word. As in USED TO.

She has since announced that she is done sleeping. Like as in FOREVER.

When ever I tried to nap her it would turn into an epic battle of 2-3 hours of crying. By the end of it I wouldn't really be sure if I wanted her to fall asleep anymore, having a nap that late in the day might be tragic.

So sadly, that was the death of naps. They are gone. Yes, as in FOREVER. Unless she falls asleep in the car, just don't try sneaking her into the crib like we used to in the good old days, she will panic, big time.

Ava's new sleep schedule is wake up around 7am and come relax in our bed or fall back asleep, no nap, down at 9:30ish and waking up at least once or twice in the middle of the night.

We have relied on a white noise machine from very early on, we started the first four months with serious sleep problems with this girl. My Cousin Erik loaned us his little boom box MP3 player that had a white noise disk in it. It plays for an hour as it slowly gets quieter and then turns off. We as a family are addicts to this stupid thing. You can't travel with out it. She won't sleep. Period.

It is big and bulky and half the time takes 20 minutes of hitting it to get it working at all (sorry Erik) so I have been plotting it's replacement for some time now. My other Cousin Hope has this white noise machine:
She loves it so much that she has 3 of them, one for each of their two children's rooms and another for theirs. They cost $50 which is why I have been reluctant to break down and buy one but now Ava won't stop waking up in the middle of the night demanding "I NEED MY WHITE NOISE ON!!!" I figured the time has come.

The package arrives and I am so excited it is finally here!! Yay! Guess what? She totally rejected it.

"I don't like that white noise!!"

Rrrrrrr. Seriously?

Well that was when she was sick and when our sleep problems really started rearing their ugly head so I have just been biding my time waiting for the right moment to reintroduce the New White Noise.

But she keeps waking up, and she screams, and screams. At first I thought the only solution was to take her to our room. I felt so defeated. This was the only way any of us was going to get any sleep. What else could I do???

Each night she started waking up earlier and earlier, needing in our bed. And I gave in.

Then it hit me. That white noise she has been rejecting? You know the one? Blast that sucker in our room and what crying baby???

I know we will probably burn in hell for this but I am determined to get her back to being that happy in HER room kid.

Comments

Anne said…
Whatever works to get her to choose to stay in her own bed is a Good Thing. Hope this reverse psychology works!
Unknown said…
So you mean you're going to put the noise that she doesn't like in your room so she'll want to be her room? Funny! I bet she'll change her mind and decide she likes it in your room.. but hopefully not, good luck!
Sarah said…
No, no. I guess that wasn't clear. I am simply using the white noise machine in my room so I don't have to hear her cry it out. I really wanted her to like the new machine because it plays continuously. In fact I bought one for my mom because she likes to use that sort of thing to help her sleep too but she ended up not using it, she brought it back to me today and I am MAKING Ava try it. We now each have one in our rooms. She woke up twice last night (with the old machine that turns off) demanding I "turn her white noise back on" so tonight was the first night I tried it in her room, she has noticed me using the one in my room and I think that is helping her to accept it. I will let you know if it makes a difference or she still wakes up. Wish us luck! :)

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