Wasn’t Baby Barb adorable? Honestly, she was such a blast as a baby, however, here’s a small secret—-Barb Barb did not sleep through the night until she was OVER a year old. No joke.
NOT ONCE.
It was absolutely exhausting. I don’t think I’ve ever been that tired in my entire life. And, if I am being completely honest with you, I have to say that thinking back to that first year of life, as amazing as it was, I think has a lot to do with the reason why Justin and I didn’t go off and have more children shortly after Barb was born.
I feel like the odd man out in most situations, as most people have their children pretty close in age. Most of Barb’s classmates have siblings, and most of them are a within a couple years in age of one another. Most assume that Justin and I only wanted one child, but honestly speaking, that was never the case.
The thought of going through the whole pregnancy thing again, and then having a child who didn’t sleep for an entire year, thus translating to me not sleeping for an entire year, I’ll be honest, I think that sort of pushed the whole “have another baby” thing out of my head for a long while. The idea of working a full time job and taking care of a baby when you’ve had a total of 4 hours of sleep—interrupted sleep that is, is somewhat terrifying to me.
Just now have I actually opened to the idea of actually having another baby. I would love to have more Barb’s or whatever the male version of Barb would be. Howard, maybe?
Anyways, ironically, Justin and I were talking about this the other day, and then I got an e-mail from a company called The Baby Sleep Site. Immediately, I went to write back to explain that I wouldn’t be a good person to talk about babies as I don’t have any.
As I always do, I checked out their website, and perused around for a bit. The first thing I saw when I landed on their page was “Helping you and your child sleep.” I reminisced back to all the nights sitting in Barb’s room feeding her, being woken up four minutes after I’d fallen asleep and about HOW badly I wanted to throw that baby monitor out the window. I think the day I donated my baby monitors to Good Will was one of the happiest days of my adult life. You know, just after childbirth, and maybe, my wedding day..
The thing was, when Barb was a baby, I followed the books. I tried the “cry it out method” and that lasted about 2 minutes as it killed my heart to hear her wailing in the other room, I tried co-sleeping to no avail because hearing her make ANY noise made me jolt awake thinking I’d maybe rolled on top of her. I read A LOT, but nothing worked- so, we just didn’t sleep for 14 months. No biggie.
The one time I caught Baby Barb asleep.
HA.
What I’ve learned is that there is no RIGHT way to train your baby to sleep through the night. Every parent is different, and most of all, every CHILD is different. We all have different parenting methods and things that we are and are not comfortable doing. There is no ONE book that has the answer for each individual parent and child.
The Baby Sleep Site actually details the varying options between the cry-it-out method and the no-cry sleep solutions. Furthermore, that often times, for children, sometimes you have to use a little of this and a dash of that.
For me, when I had Barb, I tried two things that I’d read in books. I tried the co-sleeping deal, and I tried the cry-it-out method. Neither of those worked, so we were awake for the majority of 2008. Had I known that there were different options available, maybe I’d have less gray hair and crows feet.
Barb clearly had her own temperament, as do all children. Obviously, this is abundantly clear now as a seven year old. Barb is Barb and had I known the importance of considering Barb’s stellar temperament as a baby, maybe I would have slept more than 36 hours the first year and a half after her birth.
One of my ALL time favorite photos of Barb. It SO captures her and her personality.
As Barb aged, her sleeping patterns adjusted. Through toddlerhood, she actually slept pretty well, but she did have bumps where she’d have sporadic disruptions to her normal sleep schedule, and I’d find her hanging out in the guest room across the hall from her room with a container of cheese puffs.
…or in the bathroom doing her make-up….
You know, it’s funny, my mom always joked about how much things had changed when I was pregnant with Barb when we’d be shopping for baby items; really though, things are constantly evolving. If I had another baby now, I wouldn’t even know WHERE to start with all the items they have on the market. I can, however, tell you that I’d definitely keep this website bookmarked on my phone, tablet, computer, and stuck to my forehead if and when we decide to give baby number 2 a go.
So, my friends with babies, toddlers, and kids like Barb who hate to sleep, I highly, HIGHLY, recommend checking out The Baby Sleep Site. They have a ton of FREE resources for parents of infants, babies, and toddlers.
If you are having issues with your child and sleeping, I have a fun giveaway to offer you. First, you will receive a $25.00 Amazon gift card, and second, you will receive a three month free pass to the “Members Area” of The Baby Sleep Site.
This site is legit, and surely something I wished was around when my “Nocturnal Barb” was younger.
To enter to win the $25.00 Amazon gift card and a 3 month free pass to the Members Area of The Baby Sleep Site, please leave me a comment with your first and last name—andddddd…you all know how much I LOVEEEEEE baby pictures, so if you want to leave me a comment with a photo of your adorable little one, please do!
Barb and I will pick the winner on October 29th!
Rules for entry: Must be 18+ years or older, Comment must be left so I have your first and last name for the drawing!
As always, please give your pal a vote on your way out. One click a day helps rank my blog!
xo- Smash
Karen Thompson
Ugh, now 2.5 years old and my monster still doesn’t sleep through the night. She slept through the night in her cozy little womb with a water bed.
She sleeps through the night now, but it was a struggle… and we’re planning on giving her a little brother or sister within the next year or two.
Funny I should read this now. My husband and I just finished talking about how easy our first was with sleep but we have no clue what our second one will be like — who I might add is due any day.
Fingers crossed for a good sleeper again because I’m already exhausted!
Thankfully my first daughter was a champion sleeper, but it makes it that much harder with our current daughter. Add in colic, reflux, and a milk allergy – it’s been five months of no sleep! We are all exhausted!
Our first is a great sleeper and wasn’t terrible as a naby, up until 7 months. That’s when we found out we were expecting #2, my milk supply dropped, she had just recently started solids… not sure what of these changes caused it, but from 7-11 months was a nightmare. Up 5-6 times a night, every night. Although that was bad… #2 is SO much worse. He is 7 1/2 months old now, and I’m lucky to get 2 hours of sleep at a time. He sleeps, don’t get me wrong, but he hates sleeping unless he’s being held. And only if it’s by me. And I have to be rocking him. On top of just plain hating sleeping on his own, he has a dairy allergy, so if I slip up and have anything with dairy (and you’d be surprised just what has dairy in it… my non-dairy creamer? Yep) he gets such an upset stomach that sleep is almost non-existent at all… for at least 2-3 nights every time. SO SO tired!
Jessica Pinsly
10 week old that really only gets good quality sleep when I hold her…so frustrating.
Kristi Bryner
Newborn that likes to be held *yawn*
My firstborn still struggles to sleep through the night at 4 years old. It’s not that she can’t. She just gets scared. Thankfully, I don’t have to nurse her to sleep! Lol! We’re ready to start our little one on sleep training.
18th mth sleep regression looming…. eeks! and I love the photos of what she got up to when she wasn’t sleeping!
Jamee Perryman-I have an 18 month old daughter, Skylar.
Love the Babysleepsite! I feel for you and your story! Sleep is so important! I also love dinosaurs 🙂
Baby was never a super sleeper, but now we are going through the 4 month sleep regression. Oh my…
6 month old boy! He is a doll, can definitely use some sleep help though. Thank you!
Rossie Hershberger
I would love to leave a picture but I don’t know how… 🙁 sorry!
Would love some guidance from the Sleep Site!
Our beautiful baby number 2 (only 2 months) sleeps just 40 minutes at a time after an hour of trying to get her to sleep. Yikes!
Kristine Rietze
Would love to win this! Been receiving the daily emails from the sleepsite 🙂
Brittney Bunker
…1:45am as I stumble across your site and type this while up for the SEVENTH time since 7pm. Oh I hate you 4 month regression…
Melissa Cameron
Juli Williams
I dont know if my post didn’t get on earlier, but i figured out links to pics!
https://instagram.com/p/7IzjfDlBy7tXR6s2GWCURGH1_EEZ_mxQ2q8ak0/
Thanks for the very cute story, funny how relatable parenting makes everyone become!
Rossie Hershberger
Great to hear I’m not the only one whose baby doesn’t sleep. 5 month only seems to only sleep if I feed her to sleep and has recently decided 3am is a great time for a 1-2 hr chat. Have bookmarked the baby sleep site, thanks.
Steph White
Aditi Jain – I have a 5.5 month who hates to nap…so much FOMO 🙁
I miss sleep! I miss getting more than just a couple hours of uninterrupted sleep, and I absolutely have had the same exact thought about not having a second child because I can’t imagine getting so little sleep ever again.
-Jennifer Baumgardner
Mariah Owen
Is this contest open anyone outside the US? I’d love a chance to win because our otherwise wonderful baby boy seems to be going through his 8 month regression *right*now*. That is, unless things are about to get even worse….
Melissa Kay and Ian 🙂
When #1 has always been an amazing sleeper, it makes it that much harder that #2 isn’t. 🙁
Faith Blasi
I would love to have more access to the baby sleep site. I was up at 10,12,2,4,5,5:15,5:30 and 6:30 with my 4 month old last night. Like Barb, he will not sleep! Help!! Erin Conrad
Nadia Coombe
Our beautiful little girl, Leah Elle is already allergic to sleep and is only 3 months old. Would looooove to win that voucher.
Wish I could send a pic but couldn’t figure out how. Doh!!
Sarah Vallillee
My little 4 month old is a handful! I’ve used the baby sleep site and they’re great,
With 2 under 2 and my oldest enjoying a 4:45-5:00 wake time up each morning, I could DEFINITELY use the three month pass to The Baby Sleep Site. : )
With 2 under 2 and my oldest enjoying a 4:45-5:00 wake up time each morning, I could DEFINITELY use the three month pass to The Baby Sleep Site. : )
Trevor will be 9 months on the 1st and i think he has slept thru the night once. I start a new “adult” job on the 2nd and it’s going to be fantabulous! Hoping him going to daycare might help him sleep longer, but I doubt it. I think he thinks he is missing something when he wakes up at 1..then 3..then 4 ?
My little girl is 8 months and still doesn’t sleep through the night we could definitely use the tips from the site and definitely benefit from the members area
All 3 of my kids slept 12 hours straight by 5 months, but then again I didn’t the cry it out method, 3 hours of crying hurt my ears but it only took one night with each kid. 3 hours of crying was worth getting sleep!
It doesn’t work with some kids but it’s worth it if you can hack 3 hours, seriously!
did*