Sleep Series Episode 2 - Things can only get better!

Earlier in the week I shared the start of my Sleep Series Challenge – aiming to take a long hard look at my sleeping patterns (if you can call them that!) and taking steps to try and improve them. Each week I will be attempting a variety of tried and tested approaches to try and make small improvements to the amount and quality of sleep I get.

But how much sleep am I actually getting to start with?

This week I recorded two nights waking and sleeping patterns, on two average days of the year. There was nothing particularly special about the last two nights – no out of character behaviours, no special occasions, just a regular Saturday night, and a normal Sunday evening. Both however were fairly typical of my normal ‘night shifts’ and highlight why I feel tired and lethargic so much of the time. We’ve had better nights (her best waking just twice during the night), and we’ve had far worse (with some nights me not getting to sleep at all till gone 3am!)

Here’s how they went down:

Saturday Night

Neve appeared to be having a good night, having settled down to bed fairly quickly at 7.30 without much fuss. I chill for a bit in bed, blogging on my laptop and watching Three Identical Strangers (which if you haven’t watched yet I can recommend!)
Just before 10:30 I decide to call it a day, putting down my phone and snuggling under the duvet.
As quite often happens, literally THE SECOND I state that I am going to sleep, say goodnight to Mike or even *think* about closing my eyes, Neve starts to murmur. I joke that it’s like she has some kind of internal radar, an alert system like some kind of spirit level that can sense when I have lay down. It would be funny, if it didn’t happen so bloody often. She sits up in bed crying, scratching at her eczema on her wrists and rubbing her eyes. She tries to settle herself back to sleep, but as usual she fails. I either go in, or I leave her to cry and risk waking up her sister.
I go in and settle her back to sleep. Sometimes she wants a cuddle, sometimes she wants milk, sometimes she doesn’t really want anything at all other than to know that I am around. This time she feeds and goes back to sleep pretty quickly and I am back in bed within 20 minutes.
Midnight I wake up – the rest of the house is asleep, Mike is snoring and I have period pains. I give him a sharp nudge in the ribs and try and go back to sleep.
12.55 Neve wakes again waking us both. Mike tries to go in, but like most times that he attempts to settle her he fails. She cries for me, pushing Mike away and arching her back. After 10 minutes he gives up and I go in.
1.20 I crawl back into bed. I am tired now, and hope that she sleeps for a while.
4.20am – 3rd wake up of the night – Mike is snoring again and Neve is crying. Another feed and she settles quickly. I sit in the chair in her room half awake, leaning my head against her bedroom wall as I cuddle her back to sleep whilst using as little energy as possible.
5.50 – Neve up AGAIN. Cuddles and rocking and she settles back to sleep.
6.15am I crawl back into bed, knowing that in about 40 minutes time the whole house will be up and wanting some breakfast. As it’s the weekend, Mike normally lets me have a lie in, so I have the opportunity to get back a bit of sleep that I missed.
TOTAL SLEEP DURATION – Approx – 5.5 hours.

Sunday Night

As per the night before, Neve wakes about 10.30pm, just at the point as which I’d like to start thinking about sleeping myself. I settle her, and end up rolling into bed at about 11pm.
12am – she wakes again – not a good start, and her crying wakes up Erin in the process. Erin then needs the loo, meaning I spend more time up supervising her to and from the toilet in the dark.
1.20am – Erin wakes up crying after having a bad dream – and so Mike goes into her room to settle her. Within minutes however Mike is asleep and snoring in Erin’s bed. I go in to check she’s ok and she is lying there awake listening to the FOG HORN that is her Dad. I scoop her up, and bring her into my bed instead, leaving a 37 year old man sleeping in a unicorn covered cabin bed in his daughter’s room alone. Erin wants a cuddle but about 1.45 I get to think about going back to sleep.
4am – Neve wakes up, wanting milk and a cuddle before gradually drifting back off to sleep.
4.50am she wakes again – resulting in lots of muttered expletives and mumbles of “&$*% Sake!” from me. This time I probably go in too quickly. She settles herself after rolling over and therefore I assume this was simply wind or a bad dream.
7.15 the alarm goes off – happy Monday!
TOTAL SLEEP DURATION – Approx 5.5 hours.

So there you have it – pretty grim reading right? Like I stated before, with Neve’s eating being so poor and thus her still feeding at night, there are some limitations to my ‘experiment’ in that with all the positive changes in the world, I still have parenting responsibilities that will prevent me from sleeping. HOWEVER, the faster I can settle back to sleep, and the better quality sleep I can secure in the middle, hopefully the better I will feel.

Starting on Saturday night, I will be doing TEST 1 of the sleep challenge, and this will be no tech after 6pm. I am not going to include TV in this (as our Netflix game is strong and the Bachelor has started (priorities!) however the laptop and mobiles will be away. I will be honest and admit that I am going to find that in itself bloody tough but blue screen is proven to have negative impacts on sleep, and I do rely upon my phone a lot, sometimes aimlessly searching through Facebook without even knowing what i am looking for! In the early days, my phone was a great tool for helping me stay awake, because I HAD to, I couldn’t fall asleep with a newborn or nod off whilst breastfeeding. These days however, they often cause my mind to kick in, my thoughts to wander, and I have to admit that isnt always helpful.

So for 1 week from Saturday to Saturday, the phone will be locked away, aeroplane mode and I will be slow to reply to messages. I will relax, read a book and *shudder* talk to Mike a little, and see what difference, if any it makes.

Will let you know how I get on!

Lucy