Thursday, March 08, 2012

My toddler has sleep issue. Does yours, too?

This is what I want to do - go around and ask all mommies out there if at the age of my Ayesha, your baby still has trouble sleeping through the night.  Ayesha will be 1 year and 6 months on this 16th of March.  Most toddlers at her age, are already sleeping through the night.  She doesn't.  Well, she does at once every fortnight.  The result?  An exhausted, exhausted, grumpy dan frustrated Mommy.  Not knowing what she wants or how else to make her sleep is far too frustrating.

As you all know, my baby is on breastmilk.  So you guessed it, yepp, how I put her to sleep from the age of 0 is by breastfeeding her to sleep.  One mistake I did, I know.  The nurses had particularly told me this after I gave birth - that I must put her down as soon as she's full and let her sleep on her own.  Tough, huh??  Knowing it is not the right thing to do, but is the easiest, and let's say, most comforting back then when I had resolved the issues with breastfeeding (Please backtrack my previous posts on breastfeeding). 

I had a chat with my husband at 4am, and he shared his observation from this 'sleep' issue.  According to him, it seems Ayesha just want to cuddle up (duduk celah ketiak dan bermanja- manja).  You can see it from her action.  I remember my mom told me this is normal in a child who's left at home.  She's probably just bored and wants more of me than what I can give.  The thing with finding comfort at the breast every hour or half an hour, is the same thing.  Hubby said he thinks its because Ayesha doesn't want me to leave her for work.  You'll see that she'd be OK if I say, Mommy's going to get you a drink from the kitchen.  But I cannot go into the bathroom because that will mean I am going to take a shower and go to work.  Separation anxiety much? 

No, she didn't have too much sleep during the day either.  In fact, I had observed that even though she only slept in the morning, she still had trouble sleeping through the night.  This means still waking up with nightmare, or waking up every hour for milk. Or up to cuddle, or just cry and be uncomfortable.  Yes, she did have dinner.  In fact she ate a lot during dinner. 

I suppose she will just grow out of this.  Mommy also need to remember that when she 'signed up' as a mother, this will mean sleepless night, dirty diapers, vomit-smelling top and messy hair-do.  Mommy will probably miss this when she grows old on her own. 

2 comments:

Dee's said...

Hai, I just nak share my baby going to be 1 yrs 6 mnth on 20th March, (birthday diorang dekat kan) so lebih kurang Ayesha la. Problem kita sama, even nak pergi mandi pun my daughter akan menjerit2:-
1) takut kita akan tinggalkn dia untuk pergi kerja
2) akan keluar tanpa dia

U ada maid and u tinggalkan dgn maid kan, so relief sikit i guess? I left her with my mom which I will bring her to my home during weekend. But on Wednesday night I will go to Putrajaya (my parents home)and tidur dengan dia dan sepanjang malam dia akn mengada dan tak tidur.

Bila baca post u, i rasa diorang punya age ni diorang nak attention lebih especially mine because she regularly with me, lain-lain dok tinggal dengan atok nenek. Tula, siang dah tak tidur, malam dah tak lena even we fed them with foods with high hope diorang tak bangun malam kan? Kita penat kan and penat fikir diorang ni dapat good rest ke tak? N smtm I mmg tension and frust with the situation. U have to be strong la and firm. I pagi kalau dia start nangis je time I nak mandi, I will keraskan hati and ignore her, and daddy will comfort her. I siap2 (nanti daddy akan main dgn die) then pergi kerja.

I tengok Ayesah of kinda cerdik, I suggest u send her to play school (tapi yg jadi masaalahnya play school smpi 12pm je sape pulak nak amik and hanatar kan). She is boring , u bygkan seharian duduk dgn maid, dia bosan sbnrnye!

So me myself pun tgh cari solution that she will be happy, I plan to send her play school next year and tghari hantar to penjaga (hrp boleh dipercayai), baru plan jela. Bila kt sekolah tu kita tau la dia ada friends and did some activity kan. Dan harap dia penat, malam tido lena. So we (my hubby and me) tgh cari extra duit, hehe. I just wanted to be good mom and at the same time bukan selekeh mom (sekarang dah selekeh dah mcm u post tu sebijik cam i) hahahahah

Diana Abdul Molok said...

Dear m-a-a,
Thanks for sharing your experience. It makes me feel alot better knowing that there are other mothers who share the same experience- knowing that I am not alone is above anything!

Ramai jugak kawan-2 yang suggest play school macam you. InsyaAllah, memang dah ada dalam plan. Hopefully bila dia cukup 2 tahun, or bila dapat baby baru nanti dah boleh bagi dia pergi school.

Memang betul dia bored, you can see it in her eyes and behaviour. I will try to work on it.