Sleepless in Sussex

I remember agonising over my choice of blog name. I came up with some names that I loved, and rejected them because the blogspot URL was already taken. I wanted to steer away from anything that mentioned Mum or Mummy, or that referenced my family size, because I wanted something more permanent. For the same reason I didn't go with my favourite blog name - Sleepless in Sussex.

When I started this blog, toddler Harry screamed for several hours every night and then started his day before 5am. Mia was six weeks old with typical newborn sleeping patterns. For quite a few of those early months, entire nights were spent alternating between the two of them. But I knew, or at least I hoped, that it wouldn't last forever. Because one day I would be sleeping fairly consistently again, and that blog name would become redundant.

Harry did start sleeping through regularly when he was about three. He also began to sleep slightly later in the mornings, at least after 6am. Now aged five he does sleep through, and usually until around 6.30am. He is up in the night probably about once a week for various reasons, but compared to what we've been through with him in the past it's a breeze.

Mia however is still a bad sleeper. She wakes up at some point every single evening screaming, then again soon after we've gone to bed. If we're lucky then that's it, but at least three or four times a week she will wake several more times throughout the night. It's pretty exhausting. I'm sure it's all our fault, we do have the bad habit of settling her with a drink of water, so now she wakes and asks for a drink.

I'm just clinging on to the hope that when she reaches the magical age of three she'll settle down and we'll start to enjoy at least a few uninterrupted nights. To be honest I'm so used to the sleep deprivation now that I find it much easier to cope with than when I just had Harry, it's just a part of life now!