The Evolution of Gracie’s Sleep

My children have always been great sleepers! Like their mom, most of the kids liked to sleep in until nine or so once they hit toddlerhood. Even my youngest, Grace was a great sleeper, never barging in on us in the middle of the night, until the day we thought we kicked her finger sucking habit!

I had gone out on an errand, and had called my husband and who couldn’t talk at the moment because Gracie had bite her tongue. In the background I heard cries coming from my three year old. They weren’t just, “I’ve fallen down and I kiss will make it all better” cries. They were blood curdling, full blown wails.

I tried not to worry and prayed she’d be okay! Then I arrived home and I saw the blood. All Grace wanted was for me to hold her and make it all better. So I tried, but the gash in her mouth was so big and ugly we thought she might need stitches. After several calls and differing opinions, we opted for no stitches. Eventually the Motrin kicked in and she settled, but she couldn’t comfort herself by sucking her fingers, and she woke up during the night several times.

That’s when our sleeping beauty turned into a waking nightmare.

I didn’t notice it at first, but that’s when her sleep habits began to go from good to worse. Suddenly she wanted me by her side when she went to sleep. Before the tongue biting incident, she had a routine down pat.

One book. A kiss and a hug. Music on. Lights out and blow a kiss at the door. That’s it! No complaints. No requests for water and it didn’t matter if my husband or I put her to bed. As long as she had her routine and her fingers to suck, she was okay.

Night after night, I sat by her side, exhausted and trying to get her to fall asleep. If Super Nanny had known what I had resorted to, she’d be pounding down my door offering intervention.

First I sat by her side night after night, wanting to comfort and nurture my little girl. Then sleep deprivation took over and I resorted to Super Nanny tactics. I moved across the room and refused to look at her when she called me. Then a wise friend told me to use the “I have to go to the bathroom and I’ll be right back,” tactic. I did hoping she’d fall asleep and it worked…for a while.

Then she had this sudden fear of the dark. I don’t know what triggered it, but after a couple of nights I knew it was real. Each evening I had to tie her closet doors shut so that the monsters stayed in there. Yet, she wasn’t appeased until the light stayed on ALL night. The only trouble with that is it took her two hours to fall asleep.

I’m not sure how long that lasted, but I got really tired checking on her every ten minutes because she was making too much noise. Though the events of those sleep deprived months have grown hazy, I know we must have resorted to letting her sleep in our bed all night. In fact, I let her fall asleep in our bed while I typed in the dark. My goal was to get her used to the dark again. And it worked, though sometimes she still had fear of the dark and would slip into our bed at night.

What’s Gracie doing now? Sleeping, thank God, but she’s got a new routine! Hope this one won’t last either!