little kids don't sleep! (NA)

woodstock

woodstock

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this has nothing to do with anything we've talked about before, I just thought I'd bring this up..

a friend of mine, a little older than me (I'm 40) had her first (only?) kid with her husband almost a year ago. She hasn't had much sleep since then. Before, they were in Germany and due to her high risk pregnancy and Germany's uber-liberal family leave laws, she didn't work for over a year (before and after birth). Now they are back stateside and she's working (from home, which is a plus - IT consulting). Husband isn't working yet but she's making enough to carry them.

Not having to work helped with the weird sleep sched - nap when you can. Now her work sched is making the lack of sleep almost a crisis. apparently he is restless for hours on end at night.

crikey I feel really bad for her. I'm almost past the point I'd ever have to worry about this anyway - I know I couldn't cope with no sleep for weeks on end.

I guess I don't expect any stories or a reply but I think I might owe my parents a lot of thanks - I think it would be easier to have a teenager around than an infant!
 
woodstock said:
Now her work sched is making the lack of sleep almost a crisis. apparently he is restless for hours on end at night.
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Apparently there are a lot of Moms with this problem, enough that other moms are capitalizing on it. I just read this earlier this week (go figure!):

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14869069/site/newsweek

MSNBC article snippet said:
Sept. 25, 2006 issue - It wasn't long into my maternity leave when I hatched my first idea for a new business: I'd start a "night-care center" where sleep-deprived parents could drop off their newborns and head home for eight hours of uninterrupted slumber.
Click to expand...
 
woodstock said:
crikey I feel really bad for her. I'm almost past the point I'd ever have to worry about this anyway - I know I couldn't cope with no sleep for weeks on end.
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Holly is now 4, but I remember that first year, I think. Many many nights of almost no sleep. Almost as bad as the Navy ;-)
 
woodstock said:
I think it would be easier to have a teenager around than an infant!
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Uh, having experienced 3 of each, I would have to disagree with you on that speculation!!! :rolleyes:
 
Kid #1 -- no problem. Slept through the night by 3 mos.
Kid #2 -- slept a total of 6 hours a day. We were getting psychotic from lack of sleep.
Kid #3 -- slept OK, but not great. BUT didn't make a fuss if he was awake, just found something to do.

We have always said if our daughter (kid 2) had been born first, she would be an only child.
 
Frank Browne said:
Yep, and teenaged daughters are the toughest by a long shot!
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And I've got three of 'em... (teenage daughters). The dog's a girl too.

I'd fly, but I'm understandably broke! (they're pretty good kids... but being girls, they DO have their hormonal at-each-others-throats moments)
 
Troy Whistman said:
And I've got three of 'em... (teenage daughters). The dog's a girl too.

I'd fly, but I'm understandably broke! (they're pretty good kids... but being girls, they DO have their hormonal at-each-others-throats moments)
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Yikes! We had one and that was enough. The two boys were much less worrisome, and cheaper!
 
Frank Browne said:
Yep, and teenaged daughters are the toughest by a long shot!
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Take a lesson from business and outsource the problem! :yes:

No, don't send them to India with a one-way ticket. We sent our children to boarding school and they came back happy, educated, and believing that Mom and Dad were basically OK, although we did have a few moments.... Our reason for sending them away was the poor school and social environment in public high school, so the "outsource" dividend was not expected but gratefully received!

-Skip
 
woodstock said:
I think it would be easier to have a teenager around than an infant!
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hahahaha...wait 'till they turn 15.
 
I have a 7 month old. Tell me about it. I feel bad for my wife when I am away. I see that as time for me to get some sleep. I do as much as possible to help her when I am home. However my poor wife hasnt slept since Febuary. At least my daughter has started sleeping from 8pm to 6am now without waking up. So, it does get better. My wife is at work by 7:30am so...poor girl.
 
Oye - tell me about it. We've had three in just under four years and I'm in my very late 40's (my wife is not). The wife has been pregnant or nursing for five years now and I don't think either of us has selpt the night through in that time. But oh the joy of children! Whether its the amazement in the eyes of an infant the day they discover their hands or the pride in the eyes of a toddler who has just figured out how to climb up on a chair, or the confidence and self esteem in the eyes of the four year old when you ask them to do something responsible like "keep an eye on your baby brother," nothing compares to watching a child grow up.

As a side note, this spring my oldest will graduate from U of Michigan.
 
woodstock said:
I think it would be easier to have a teenager around than an infant!
Click to expand...

That was my experience. When my daughter was a baby .. I found out
you can indeed go a couple years without sleep. Then in the 2's and 3's
she was little testy. But once she got into preschool and above she
just mellowed out and was zero trouble. A joy to have around and still
is. All thru growing up I kept waiting for her to wierd out and it never
happened. Finished high school with a cummulative 4+ GPA and got a
full ride to college. I hope she stays on track.

RT

PS: Her only shortcoming is she just doesn't have any interest in
airplanes. Where did I go wrong?
 
When my son was a baby and first home from the hospital, he could sleep anywhere and slept thru the night from the first day. Since we didn't "sanitize" the environment; just kept making the same kind of noises (radios, ringing phones, tv).
It helps if the parent can ignore the first couple of cries. As long as you know the baby is okay (clean diaper, fed, burped) and the crying is just "attention", leave them be and go back to sleep. Not every cry is a problem.
It also helps if you sleep like a brick before you bring your new baby home. Then they get used to it real quick.
 
The second kid and the twins were put on a schedule at three weeks old. They learned to sleep through the night within a week and during daytime naps, the phone, the vacuum, etc never bothered them.

Its painful (for the parents) to do this (kid cries, gotta pick him up! not), but well worth the effort. Some of my friends thought it was cruel and that I was a bad parent, but I was sleeping and they weren't.
 
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