The Trenches

[rtraverdavis]

I just don’t understand how some parents have kids that put themselves to sleep and also sleep through the night.

Those kids aren’t real. My kids are five and seven and we still have to stay in their rooms until they are fully asleep when we put them to bed at night. And since we moved into a new house about a month ago, they’ve been on the floor of my wife’s and my bedroom every night but one. Best sleep I get all year is on hunting trips.

 

[BackofBeyond]

I truly have no idea how anyone has more than one child

Because some of us are REALLY stupid and don't learn the lesson the first time.

 

[TOGIE]

Had to reread this thread as I’m rocking boy #2 to sleep and boy #1 is somewhere in the living room (?) playing.
#2 compared to #1 is comparing apples and asteroids. At the time we thought #1 was difficult. Ha. #2 is such a sh*tty sleeper it’s driving us insane. We’ve even went as far as paying some sleep consultant $1,500 for their program or whatever. I never thought it would work (shocker, it hasn’t) but desperation is an ugly perfume.
I knew #1 needing attention and being a crazy 3 year old compounds the situation, but my goodness, #2 is a different kind of crab ass.
Just needed to bring this one back to ensure myself I’m not going insane.
Fall is getting near and I’m starting to get scared my wife is going to kill me when I head to WY for pronghorn and elk and she’s gotta deal with them both for 2 full weeks.

and here i am being anxious about time away this fall leaving my wife with our mild mannered, what will be a just over 1 year old. yeesh.

that's why this is the last year of lots of tags and bigger plans. once number two comes around, whenever that is, it's gonna be reduced to like 2 weekends of hunting a fall for a while, a good while.

 

[TOGIE]

Those kids aren’t real. My kids are five and seven and we still have to stay in their rooms until they are fully asleep when we put them to bed at night. And since we moved into a new house about a month ago, they’ve been on the floor of my wife’s and my bedroom every night but one. Best sleep I get all year is on hunting trips.

my current 10-11 month old is a real one!

i can count on about 3 fingers how many times we've had to get up in the night for him since he was 9 weeks old. basically the only times we have to go back in there within 10 minutes of putting him down for bed is when he drops his pacifier out of the crib. he's had some bad teething moments, but overall, puts himself to sleep perfectly every night.

but dang he sure is at an exhausting stage during the day. he's at that stage where you have to watch him 100% of the time if he is not sleeping. and boy, i know it's only just beginning.

 

[LuketheDog]

my current 10-11 month old is a real one!

i can count on about 3 fingers how many times we've had to get up in the night for him since he was 9 weeks old. basically the only times we have to go back in there within 10 minutes of putting him down for bed is when he drops his pacifier out of the crib. he's had some bad teething moments, but overall, puts himself to sleep perfectly every night.

That's how our first one was, and my wife was in residency so there were many nights when I had our infant all by myself. She was great, slept like a rock. Then the second one came along, and that one would wake up a minimum two times every night, usually more, for the first 18 months of her life. I practically had an IV drip of caffeine just to stay awake most days...

 

[TOGIE]

That's how our first one was, and my wife was in residency so there were many nights when I had our infant all by myself. She was great, slept like a rock. Then the second one came along, and that one would wake up a minimum two times every night, usually more, for the first 18 months of her life. I practically had an IV drip of caffeine just to stay awake most days...

yeah, this is what i'm afraid of. a reality that can't be predicted and you basically have 50/50 odds of experiencing.

i'm gonna hold out for winning the lottery though, so far our friends that have had 2 have found number 2 to be like 1 in all things sleep and demeanor. i freaking hope that happens to us.

watch, it won't.

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

That's how our first one was, and my wife was in residency so there were many nights when I had our infant all by myself. She was great, slept like a rock. Then the second one came along, and that one would wake up a minimum two times every night, usually more, for the first 18 months of her life. I practically had an IV drip of caffeine just to stay awake most days...

At 6months now we've slept through the night 3 times total... the night rotations and 24hs weekend shifts are a whole thing...

 

[Brauee20]

At 6months now we've slept through the night 3 times total... the night rotations and 24hs weekend shifts are a whole thing...

My first was the same way. Didn't sleep through the night until he was 9 months old, and finally settled in around 11 months. That first year was pretty much a living hell. He's 7 now and sleeps so hard that I can get him out of the car and throw him in bed without him waking up.

Luckily our second started sleeping though the night at like week four and was a super easy kid. Complete opposite.

 

[Dougfirtree]

You guys are making me feel old. All my kids sleep through the night, but I remember those days. They will come to an end. Stay strong!

<iframe src="https://giphy.com/embed/ix59YW8JlkPYP33rtA" width="480" height="366" frameBorder="0" class="giphy-embed" allowFullScreen></iframe><p><a href="

">via GIPHY</a></p>

 

[Irrelevant]

At 6months now we've slept through the night 3 times total... the night rotations and 24hs weekend shifts are a whole thing...

Get this, in 10 years you completely won't remember any of that.
I was going to weigh in, but I honestly can't remember any of it anymore. Almost like some form of PTSD...

 

[WildWill]

Man I either got really lucky or didn't give enough credit to my wife probably both. Both mine have always been easy to get to sleep and stay asleep. My oldest is now 8 and that dude could earn a medal for sleeping. As a baby he could never stay awake more then a few minutes during car rides and wouldn't wake till the car stopped. If you can get him still for a few minutes it's lights out. My daughter was a bit harder as a baby but once she started sleeping through the night (before 1 year) it's been good she doesn't fall asleep as easy as her brother but doesn't fight us either. But it's not all rainbows and unicorn farts either. We have one major issue about every other day for the last 5 years I wake up with my daughter asleep in our bed. This started because I was working away from home a lot and my wife's propensity to cuddle so she let my daughter sleep with her. Ohhh the monster that was made. Never worked with the boy he hates being crowded in bed just like his old man, I'd do Ricky&Lucy beds if my wife would allow it. But my daughter is just like her mom a proverbial cuddle bug (or tick). Plus I've never allowed any of my dogs to sleep in bed with me my wife feels quite the opposite about this. So many mornings I wake up hanging of my California king with my wife, daughter, and wife's dog sprawled comfortably across most of the bed. It both pisses me off and reminds me that I'm a very lucky man.

 

[SwaggyD]

when he drops his pacifier out of the crib

Hot tip: put 5-7 pacifiers in his crib with him at night. he will find a different one right away after loses his first.

 

[TheTone]

Hot tip: put 5-7 pacifiers in his crib with him at night. he will find a different one right away after loses his first.

The glow in dark ones are one of man’s greatest creations

 

[TOGIE]

Hot tip: put 5-7 pacifiers in his crib with him at night. he will find a different one right away after loses his first.

please sir, this house is not a house of the excessive lavish pleasures of the kings

in reality, we do like that he sleeps fine if he totally loses it later in the night, so we've avoided him having access to more to help keep it that way. it's just in those first 10 minutes he can get cranky if he loses it.

 

[SwaggyD]

please sir, this house is not a house of the excessive lavish pleasures of the kings

in reality, we do like that he sleeps fine if he totally loses it later in the night, so we've avoided him having access to more to help keep it that way. it's just in those first 10 minutes he can get cranky if he loses it.

my son would never take one. which was weird after my daughter would walk around with one in each hand.

 

[WildWill]

please sir, this house is not a house of the excessive lavish pleasures of the kings

in reality, we do like that he sleeps fine if he totally loses it later in the night, so we've avoided him having access to more to help keep it that way. it's just in those first 10 minutes he can get cranky if he loses it.

Good plan. I'd recommend breaking him of them earlier then later we waited to long with my daughter and it's was a knock down drag out fight. My boy never had any interest in them.

 

[Tiredofthebickering]

Another hot tip. Just because they are crying does not mean they are in pain or they actually need attention. Sometimes you just got to turn up the white noise, roll over, and go back to sleep.

 

[Wild Bill]

So many mornings I wake up hanging of my California king with my wife, daughter, and wife's dog sprawled comfortably across most of the bed. It both pisses me off and reminds me that I'm a very lucky man.

I wake up every morning to our son in our bed, usually via a head butt. He cracked me two times this morning really good. He started running into our room at night after we moved last month, but with #2 taking up most of our energy right now, we decided we'll tackle the sleeping full night in his own bed after we have #2's sleeping issues a little more resolved.

 

[TOGIE]

my son would never take one. which was weird after my daughter would walk around with one in each hand.

i tried to find a funny double fisting gif to respond to that...

good PSA and reminder to all to not google "double fisting" or anything like it

 

[noharleyyet]

i tried to find a funny double fisting gif to respond to that...

good PSA and reminder to all to not google "double fisting" or anything like it

...too late, there's already a bitcoin ransom request in my junk file.