Welcome to this week’s issue of #MyFiveThings. As a parent to a terrible sleeper in the first year, I can really relate to this edition contributed by Julie from Top Mums about some of the revelations you have when you have a “bad sleeper” or a baby who refused to sleep on your hands. And so without further ado, let’s hear her 5 things she realised while her baby refused to sleep. 

I remember when I was pregnant, the midwife told me that my baby was likely to wake as much as every 2 hours for a feed for at least the first 6 weeks (as I was planning to breastfeed). I remember thinking “wow! That’s a lot of waking up”

Boy was that midwife wrong! In fact, once every 2 hours would have been lovely, I hoped and prayed we would soon ONLY wake up every 2 hours……but 6 weeks passed, as did 12 weeks…….6 months…….12 months……..2 years…

After much trial and error trying to find ‘sleep solutions’ I realised these 5 things:

• Shouting at him in frustration to “go to sleeeeeeep!” will never work; no matter how much desperation I have in my voice! However, this is the only time I can mutter profanities in front of him safe in the knowledge he can’t understand.
• I am a lot stronger than I ever gave myself credit for. I can bare sitting in a chair all night, every night, my back actually burning with pain, my head banging from the stiffness in my neck; ANYTHING just don’t let me hear any more of that infernal crying!
• I understand why sleep deprivation is used as a form of torture…. resigned to sitting in an armchair night after night just so that one of us could sleep, I figured at least that way it would be cranky mummy looking after happy baby instead of cranky mummy looking after mega cranky baby.
• There is nothing wrong with him, despite what people would have me believe. Some babies just don’t sleep and it’s as simple as that; I really wish someone had told me that particular piece of information before I spent so much time desperately searching for a ‘solution’.
• I love that boy more than anything in the world and would do absolutely anything for him. Something which I now believe he is well aware of, and something he will likely play on enormously during his teenage years.

Did you have a baby who refused to sleep? What did it make you realise? Do leave a comment and share.

 Read more from Top Mums here and connect on Twitter and Facebook. 

Check out other bloggers on the #MyFiveThings series here.