Heinz - Tinytums

Sleeping

You wonder if you're doing everything right.
Caroline, 36, says all kids are different

“I’ve got three children and they all varied wildly as to their sleeping habits.  It’s funny because you’ll often hear people saying that their kids are really different, but they all were treated the same. Well, mine weren’t treated the same. The first, when it came to going down in the cot at night was absolutely wrapped in cotton wool. Not literally!!

“All three of them slept in the cot next to me in bed for the first six months, then got moved into their own room. But Zak, my first, like I say, was probably mollycoddled a bit. You do a bit though don’t you? First baby and all that, you’re nervous, you wonder if you’re doing everything right, checking on them every twenty seconds to see if they’re alright and everything. Well, Zak would cry and we’d pick him up and pace the floor with him, rocking him around and let him fall to sleep in our arms. Then it was like mission impossible getting him into the cot. The trick was to try and move your arms from underneath him without waking him up because he’d start crying again and you’d have to pick him up. You could get half way across the room thinking you’d managed it and then you’d hear him, ‘Waaa!’

Obviously the first trick as a parent is to get them to start sleeping without waking up for that middle of the night feed.
“Totally different with the other two. We learned with the second one that when you put her down she’d cry for a little bit and then drop off. And now we’re on the third we don’t have the time or energy to pace the floorboards with her anyway, ha ha ha.

“No, Ruby, the youngest is funny really. She’s a real snuffly sleeper, really noisy. But she does go down alright usually. Obviously the first trick as a parent is to get them to start sleeping through without waking up for that middle of the night feed. This is the first feed I cut out because I want my sleep!