Our Sleep Battle

We are so very blessed to have a great sleeper on our hands.  Naomi has been sleeping through the night, for the most part, since she was three months old (at that time, sleeping through the night was 10:00pm til around 5:00am, but I'll take it).  That's why it's so confusing as of lately that our little slumber girl has been fighting bedtime and waking multiple times in the night only to demand sleep in our room.  We have a king size bed, so it's not the room that's a problem, it's the fact that she is not feeling comfortable putting herself to sleep anymore.

I have been fighting a losing battle - caving in to her middle-of-the-night demands due to extreme exhaustion. But that has all changed in the past couple of days.  It may be easier NOW to allow her to sleep in our bed, but with my husband pushed into the guest room (soon to be her room) and a new baby on the way, our king size is starting to sound mighty crowded.  Nevermind the fact that she kicks, punches, snores, and takes up the majority of the bed.  Don't believe me?  Think I'm exaggerating?  Check the picture below. That's totally Omi in the top four pictures, and my personal favorite of hers is "Jazz Hands."  Andrew may have other favorites! HAH! (Like the bottom right, perhaps?) Yeah. So, we are making a change before we unleash the beast which may have already happened!!

So, two nights ago, after a two week long battle of the wills, Naomi lost.  Mama prevails!! Bwahahaha...Noo, really. I did. :)  All joking aside, we were at our wits end with crying and fighting the bedtime routine, waking between 2-4am, only to not get a good night sleep thereafter.  This may be Naomi's way of preparing me for the baby, but I don't think that's at all fair considering I'm barely halfway through this pregnancy!! Let the good nights roll until the newborn arrives, ya know?  Ha. So anyways, she's fighting and WHINING (oh how I WANT bedtime to run smoothly at this point and even happen at all) throughout the entire thing: brushing teeth, using the potty...but during reading her books was the only time that was ok (light bulb!). Bedtime prayers, then lights out, sound machine on - the usual.  Fusspot central...for sometimes 30 minutes to an hour!  Where did my angel baby that sleeps so soundly go??? They call this sleep regression. And this is sleep regression at it's finest.

The light  bulb flashed during her favorite part of bedtime: reading with her Deddy.  She enjoys that time so much, so we've extended it.  We start the routine earlier now (6:45-7:00), giving her an hour to unwind, and this extra time has allowed transition periods to run a lot smoother.  We brush teeth and potty, talk about what a big girl she is, and give her a sticker.  Back to the rocker to read books.  She gets to pick them out, and we read in silly voices.  It's easily the best part of the day.

Then, to her room (yikes).  But instead of placing her right inside her bed after we say our prayers, I now rock with her and sing songs for all of five minutes.  These quiet moments rocking my baby are the ones I treasure the most.  I could easily sit there and rock her all night, but her cute little finger points to the bed, and I tuck her in and say good night to her and all of her animal friends.  I can't take all the credit though because her Deddy helps prepare her for what's ahead by saying, "Ok, this is the laaast book. It's time for bed after this one, ok?"

We also both have to credit the constellation sea turtle, since he has made this a whole lot easier as of two nights ago!  We were going to save it for her birthday, but with her scared and fighting sleep in her own room for the past two weeks (and with not only moving to a big girl bed but also a new room soon), we caved in early. She LOVES it, and we do too!! Props to Cori and Isabella in NC for introducing us to such a cool night light. Isabella has the ladybug.  We figured the sea turtle was fitting for Savannah!

Our little lady is now dozing right off at bedtime again, and although she is still waking in the night, I go in there and rock for a little while as I do at bedtime.  I know I'll have to gradually stop this as well - gradual extinction, but it's only been a couple of nights.  We did this too while weaning.  She would want the nightly pacifier, and I would go in and offer her water.  Usually she would fuss a minute and fall back asleep.  Now that she's older, I know I have a bigger battle on my hands.  She will do fine though.  At least now she can clearly understand what's expected of her ("this is your bed...THAT is Mama and Deddy's bed").  We're planning on transitioning to a big girl bed by the end of the month, so I will let you know how that step goes for us.  My plan is to get her EXCITED about it and let her help me make the bed, place baby dolls and toys in her new room, etc.  Any ideas?  What worked for you??