Fighting The Sleep Battle – Or Not

I’m not sure if I have one of those babies who are, more or less, just insomniacs or what. I know I’ve asked my mom if she put up with this kind of stuff with me and she said yep, she most certainly did – I just outright refused to sleep. Good to know. I’ll definitely be sure to forewarn him of what’s to come before he has kids of his own. Lol… 

So, here’s the deal. My goal in life is for everyone to get to sleep through the night. Trust me when I tell you that I never intended for him to stay up as late as he does. Through trial and error, though, I’ve learned that the only way any of us are going to get to go to bed at a reasonable hour is to do exactly what we’ve been doing. 

How exactly does all of this translate into real life? When we get home from daycare, he takes a 1-2 hour nap – usually from about 6 PM-8 PM. After he gets up, he eats, gets a bath, and we play. He usually starts getting tired again right around the time that I’m getting ready for bed. 

Ironically, all I have to do is put him in his crib with his pacifier, turn the light out, and walk away. It’s almost always that simple. Here’s the other thing – I almost never have to get up throughout the night with him. He easily sleeps from 10-11 PM until at least 7:30 AM. 

I’ve certainly tried putting him in his crib earlier – oh, I’ve tried alright. I get the privilege of either dealing with a complete meltdown or I get woken up at some crazy hour of the morning and I end up only getting 2-3 hours of sleep. That makes for a long day for all of us. 

For the life of me, I can’t wrap my head around it. So many people tell me that their kids go to bed between 8 PM and 9 PM. Really? Nope. Not mine. Definitely not my little insomniac… 

I remember being a little girl and hiding books between my mattresses. I would hang out under the covers and read using the light from my alarm clock for hours every night. Obviously, I’m not at all surprised that my genetic offspring would rather not sleep the 10-12 or so hours a night that I’ve gotten told is the norm for his age. After all, I was always a horrible sleeper. Still am. I can’t make him fall sleep and if he’s just going to lie in his crib and either kick and scream or roll around and play, it’s pointless. 

I’ve arranged and rearranged his schedule. I’ve added and subtracted naps. I’ve done everything I possibly can to get him to go to bed earlier, but the net effect is always the same – it’s turns into an all-night battle over who has more willpower. 

We had a perfect example of this happen again this past weekend. I was really sick and he was with a family member. For whatever reason, he skipped his evening nap and, of course, fell asleep around 8 PM. Great, at least I thought so at the time. When he came home, I put him in his crib and went back to bed. Fast forward to 3 AM, 6 AM, and 7 AM the following morning – not so great. At any rate, we were both exhausted and cranky. Thankfully, we ended up taking a nap from about 8 AM – 11 AM. I’m thinking neither one of us would’ve made it through the day without that nap. Lol… That night, he went to sleep at 10 PM or so and slept until I woke him up the next morning. Talk about strange.  

I’m sure you’ve heard the expression “pick your battles” – this is one battle that I choose not to fight. When he’s tired, he’ll fall asleep. Sometimes, tweaking things just a bit really is what’s best for everyone. He’s happy, I’m happy, and we both get 8-9 hours of sleep every night. 

Hopefully, as he gets older and the naps start to fall by the wayside, he’ll naturally start going to bed earlier on his own. I’m actually starting to notice this already. It’s just such a gradual transition that it’s going to take some time before it makes a noticeable difference. I’m crossing my fingers on this one and hoping for sooner rather than later. It could happen, right? 

Is there a battle that you choose not to fight? Is there something that you do that isn’t exactly the norm? Leave a comment and share. 

Written by: Cristi Wuenschel