It kept me up ALL night Monday night. Anyone who has dealt with croup knows just how unpleasant it is. It causes difficulty breathing and a cough that sounds like a seal barking.
Monday night Luke came into my bed and proceeded to cough all night in my ear. I plugged in a humidifier, assured him he would be okay, and essentially stayed up all night. But, even when my children are not sick, my sleep often suffers.
Before you have children, everyone warns you how little sleep you get when your children are newborns. But they usually fail to mention lack of sleep extends far beyond the infant years. Nearly every morning my husband and I wake up with both Luke and Emma in our bed. It wouldn't be a problem, except that most of the night we suffer with little elbows and feet pummeling our faces.
When our kids were babies, they just cried in their cribs and then went back to sleep. Now, when our 4-year-old "independent" boy and a 2-1/2 year toddler are scared or experience separation anxiety, they dive straight under our covers. The National Sleep Foundation says many toddlers experience sleep problems including nighttime awakening, fears and nightmares. Experts say the best thing to do is to enforce limits, take your child back to bed, and encourage use of a security object like a blanket or stuffed animal.
But Luke and Emma don't care about blankets, except to keep them warm, could give or take most stuffed animals, and - this is key - usually sneak into our bed without fully waking us up. So, Greg and I wake up enough to lose REM sleep when little elbows and knees are hitting our faces, but not enough to have the awareness to bring our children back to bed.
So, now I just try to take an occasional nap, drink an extra cup of coffee and enjoy the morning snuggles that my children, one day, will outgrown.
Have a good night sleep!
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