The cycle of sleep

So, apparently running a week-long Book Week kind of tires you out and leaves you not blogging for a whole week. Sorry about that. I’m writing my posts for the next one well in advance. Promise.

The big news around here, apart from somehow being Number 27 in the Technorati Books Blogs list (apologies to anyone coming here expecting constant book talk), is that Eleanor now sleeps through the night. Yes, that’s right. Through. The. Night.

How did this happen? Well, there might have been a teeny bit of crying involved. Whether it was controlled or not, I can’t tell, because I covered my ears with headphones or pillow and left Chris to make the decisions about when to or not to go in. But it took about two nights. Eleanor’s been going to sleep fine for a few months now, but the getting to sleep easily at bedtime wasn’t progressing into the night and she was still waking at least twice for a feed, sometimes three times. The main idea was to get her to stop having a feed, but that ended up morphing (fortuitously) into actually just sleeping through the night.

We brought Rosemary into our room for the couple of nights of transition, so she wouldn’t be too disturbed by it, but she was able to return to her bed by the third night (theoretically, anyway – she did somehow wangle her way in by morning for another couple of nights and is still trying her luck now and then at the moment). In fact, the crying was really quite short-lived and by the second night it would last no longer than about 10 seconds before she would lie down and go to sleep. For a few nights after, we would hear her wake up and she would say ‘Mama, mama’ and grizzle briefly, but then go back to sleep. Now, the most she does is roll over or cough and go back to sleep.

And she is very happy throughout the day (well, until she gets frustrated at something and throws it across the room) and much happier to play a lot in the morning, rather than spend two hours being (drowsily) read books by me. (Half an hour of books in the morning, and another half hour in the afternoon and another half hour at bedtime, seems to do the trick, and that’s not counting what she reads at my mum’s, so I don’t think we’re in danger of her becoming illiterate.)

I had a few days of feeling on top of the world. Five hours of uninterrupted sleep was absolute bliss. I was getting up at 5 and showering, preparing snacks and even doing some writing before the girls got up (yes, sleeping through the night seemed to help her to sleep later, too, not the other way round). I was getting to mid-afternoon and still having the energy to do things.

Until… the cycle of sleep continued along its inevitable path and Rosemary started waking up most nights, at least once, and sometimes two or three times. Nightmares were the main culprit, though sometimes it was just her duvet falling off and not being able to put it back on herself (it is very heavy, though I have since seen her move it around the room a few times to make dens, so I’m thinking not that heavy). And sometimes she wakes Eleanor, too, though thankfully it’s just necessary to say ‘It’s OK. Lie down and go back to sleep, Eleanor,’ and she does. Wow.

I am now yet again wishing for an uninterrupted night’s sleep. I’m hoping the downtime over the Easter holidays will help bring this about, because I have seen the light. I cannot return to dark again. Please. No.

How are your children sleeping these days? Do you remember the transition from interrupted nights to full nights’ sleep? Did you wince while reading about the controlled crying, like I always used to (and let’s be honest, still do, even this post)? Any tips on the nightmares?

Reminder, if you’re reading this on 10 April (Happy 25th Birthday, Eva, by the way, and Happy 60th Birthday, Mama, for yesterday), that the Book Week Giveaways close at midnight tonight. If you haven’t entered, go take a look and see if there’s anything you fancy. The odds are not too awful!