I just woke up from a three hour nap. This is a rarity, since my son (who will be two on Thursday) does not like to sleep. However, he is sleeping in “my bed” right now. “My bed” is in quotes because it is not my bed anymore, but rather belongs to everyone living in this house including me, Wil, Ari and the cats.
Every night, he sleeps with me. Whether it is in our bed, on the couch or in his bed. As one veteran mom deemed it, we are playing “musical beds” in my house each night.
I wanted to see if my sleep situation was unique, so I asked parents on the playground with toddlers: how they are sleeping these days?
These are the results of my study:
There are four sleep groups I came across–
1. The kid is still trapped in the confines of her crib. She may or may not wake up in the middle of the night for some comfort. But mainly stays in the crib.
2. The kid is still trapped in the crib but eventually (at some point during the night) ends up in the parents’ bed.
3. There is not crib involved, the kid exclusively co-sleeps with the parents.
4. My group (containing only me) my child starts out in one place (our bed, his bed, the couch) and periodically rotates between these three places throughout the night.
I wouldn’t mind sleeping together in the same bed, if Ari actually slept! But instead he wants to dance on the bed, unintentionally kick me in the face and scream with delight or horror until he exhausts himself, which can take a long time.
Here’s where you come in: what’s your sleep situation? Is your kid sleeping through the night, or are you ready to have a 20th cup of coffee and/or throw yourself out the window because you’re so tired?
