sleeping

One of the things that has always been a problem in our house is sleeping.  This has been a hard (or perhaps impossible) adjustment for me.  I am a sleeper.  I could use 10 hours of sleep a night.  And I am good at sleeping.  I slept through several fire drills in college.  I love to sleep.

But from day one Ladybug has not been a sleeper.  I planned on co-sleeping.  But then I learned she was a kick-boxer in her sleep.  I tried moving her into her room.  That didn't work.  She screamed.  She cried.  She crawled into my bed.  So I gave up and co-slept.  And lived with the bruises.

After a few years I moved her bed into my room.  I slept better.  But neither of us slept through the night still.  I did have fewer bruises.  Then when we moved into this place she was asking for her own room and I was excited.  But she has not slept a night in her own bed.  Ever.

I did ask her recently if she ever thought she might be ready to sleep in her own room and she told me she would when she was 16.  She also told a new friend recently that she can't sleep alone because she was scared and she only feels safe when she sleeps with me.

Our normal routine for sleeping...

She goes to bed at about 8pm.  Sometimes a little earlier.  Sometimes a little later.  We read a story.  We cuddle.  She snuggles with her animals and she goes to sleep.
Really.  She goes to sleep.
I go to bed between 11 and 12 most nights.  From the time she goes to bed until the time I go to bed I hear her get up about 6-12 times a night.  Seriously.  And when she has beads in her hair I hear it more. 
She wanders from her room to mine.  Looking for me.  Then she goes back to bed.  Waiting for me.
She does not come downstairs.
When I go to bed she crawls in bed with me.  Sometimes I am still awake.  Sometimes I am not.  I have never woken up in the morning and not had her in my bed. 
Every single night.

So this weekend we started Melatonin.  She needs more sleep.  Maybe her behaviors will improve if she gets more uninterrupted sleep.  I mean I am cranky because of lack of sleep.  Maybe she is too.  I am really hoping this helps.

I waited 5 years. I have thought about it for about 2 years.  I have talked about it.  I did research.  I was hesitant.  And then the therapist said to do it.  So I bought it.

Then a friend tells me last night that another one of her friends took her kids off of it.  Because there is apparently some study that links Melatonin to sterility.  Helps her sleep now and is birth control for the teenage years??  Win, win.

Mean Mama