Victory is sweet…

But it is too soon for the victory lap…

The initial two nights of Abbie sleeping in her own room were fairly rough…
Going to bed is usually fine, it’s more the middle of the night wake up call that Abbie struggles to go back to sleep without me. Up until now it’s just been easier for me to just bring her into bed with me and for us to both go back to sleep promptly rather than spending precious sleep time mucking about. But I was fully aware that it was not a long term solution and it was prolonging the inevitable hard work.
Especially now that Mr Flutter not currently working away.
Not only is the bed now full but he does not cope as well with sleep interruptions!

From experience with Hannah I knew that bad night time habits could usually be broken within 4 nights of “tough love” and letting them cry it out. By Toddler age specifically I’m talking not babies… Because Abbie is now at the age where I can communicate & reason with her and she also doesn’t suffer from any serious separation anxiety issues or anything. I definitely wouldn’t feel as comfortable using this method if she was younger and didn’t understand what was happening, or if she was actually anxious. But because her protests are now purely from anger at not getting what she wants rather than from any fear based reasons “tough love” was our chosen solution…

Choosing to sleep on the floor by the night light one night. Bless.

Night 1 she woke up at about 2am. I gave her 10 minutes to see if she would settle herself and then I went in there. I simply gave her a hug and gently explained that she was a big girl and needed to go back to sleep in her bed. I gave her some encouragement, another cuddle and left the room…
Needless to say that did not go down well and some serious 2 year old words were said to me!!
In the form of all hell breaking loose & her hysterically banging at the door as usual.
But this time, despite the fact I hated the process, I took a deep breathe & stuck to my guns.
A few times I spoke to her firmly through the door to encourage her to calm down and go back to bed and eventually she got the message and settled herself back down to sleep.

Night 2 she woke up at 4am which was a really good effort for her.
But rinse & repeat night 1.

Nights 3 & 4 and she has gone really well!!
Both nights I’ve heard her wake twice, grizzle for a few minutes and go back to sleep all by herself.

Such great progress!!

Not only that but now that they’re in separate rooms both girls now seem to be sleeping until after 7am.
That’s right – not 5am. Not even 6am. But 7 whole am!!
LONG may that last!!
{it’s the small things in life right.}

Unfortunately I still did not get to sleep through the night because Hannah has a cold and woke up both nights for a change. Seriously if it’s not one it’s the other…

But as I said it’s too early for a victory lap.
We are on a red-eye flight to Brisbane tonight. I just know that between the disruption of the early morning flight, the 2 hour time difference of Brisbane and the change of routine a holiday brings, that all the good work we’ve been doing will be shot to hell.
At least now we have something better to come home to though.

I hate to fly at the best of times but I especially hate to fly in the middle of the night with 2 preschoolers in tow!!
Thank goodness it’s only 1 short(ish) flight instead of 2 long ones like usual.

Even still, please wish us luck 🙂

Back soon with fun holiday adventures!