You know when you make a change, hoping that it'll work but knowing that it won't? We did that. We f@#$ed up.
Chai
has never been great at sleeping. Ever. The only time he sleeps well is
in our bed. Tiger can't sleep with him, Chai wriggles and kicks too
much when Tiger is in the bed. If it's just Chai and I he barely moves.
Strange.
For
the last few years the boys have slept in a queen sized bed. When Tiger
is away, they go to sleep in their bed then come into my bed during the
night. When Tiger is home they start in their bed then when Chai comes
into our bed Tiger gets into bed with Eljay.
The
boys sleeping has been a huge issue for Tiger. We've tried to get Chai
to sleep in his own bed but it just stirs up his anxiety and stuffs up
his sleep. Over the years we've had advice from several professionals
but nothing works. Tiger gets very angry about not being able to sleep
in his own bed, I think it's pointless being angry about something you
can't change. In my opinion as long as we're all sleeping, I don't care
where we sleep.
About four weeks ago we went looking for drawers for Chai and came home with a bunk bed. FFS.
We still need drawers.
I
knew it would be a bad move but Tiger has been so angry about the
sleeping situation that I knew he needed to try something. Tiger thought
that if the boys were in separate beds they'd sleep better because they
weren't disturbing each other.
The
first night Chai was very anxious and didn't want to go to sleep. He
eventually went to sleep and was in my bed by 10pm. Eljay slept until
4am in his bed then got in to bed with Tiger and went back to sleep.
The second night Chai took ages to get to sleep again and was in my bed by 10pm. Eljay slept until 5am in his own bed.
The
third night Eljay slept all night in his own bed. Success! For the rest
of the time Tiger was home Eljay slept in his own bed all night. Chai
didn't. To add to the fun, Tiger's now even angrier because he's now sleeping in a single bed! FFS.
Since
we got the bunk beds Chai's anxiety has got steadily worse. He's taking
ages to get to sleep, he's had to start taking Melatonin again and even
with that he takes around an hour to get to sleep. He's extra clingy
(he's sitting next to me touching me right now) and is super anxious
about everything.
Most nights he's in my bed before 9pm. Last night he went to sleep at 8.40pm and by 10pm he'd come into my room five times. FFS.
Added to that, Eljay has stopped sleeping in his own bed and is waking up around midnight to come into my bed. FFS.
I'm
now getting less sleep than I did when they were sleeping in a queen
bed. Clever us gave the queen sized bed away, so we can't go back to
sleeping in that, which means I'm stuck in non sleeping zombie mom mode
for the foreseeable future. FFS.
Through this I've realised something that I never wanted to know.
I
hate being touched when I'm on the toilet. Yep, Chai's anxiety is so
bad that he tries to sit on my lap whilst I'm on the toilet. FFS.
He's seven! Seven year olds should not want to be in the room whilst their mom is on the toilet.
This whole situation is making me rage, my tolerance levels are very low and I desperately want a few hours alone.
To all of you having a rough time, I see you, you're amazing, we've got this.