Dad, radio show host and blogger, Jeremy Padgett and his wife thought they were past sleepless nights with their kids. Boy, were they wrong! Find out what’s happening in their household when everyone should be snoozing away.
This month in Jeremy’s exciting world of parenting, I want to fill you in on why I’m only getting 3 to 4 hours of sleep a night. Brutal right?
If you’ve been listening to the morning show at all you’ve heard me talk about my sweet little almost 2-year-old Lyla who has now decided that she no longer wants to sleep.
It starts at about 10pm every night and lasts until about four or five in the morning. Her new nightly routine is to stand in her crib and scream her head off becoming completely inconsolable. This goes on for hours and hours – her poor little voice becoming hoarse and her eyes bloodshot from all the crying. No matter how much we try to rock her and calm her – the temper tantrums stay in control and we miss out on valuable sleep, creating two extremely exhausted and frustrated parents. We are really at a loss as to how to help her because as soon as the sun goes down she wants nothing to do with us.
We’ve been trying to take some action to end this madness by talking with a couple of parents who have experienced the same issue. Warm milk before bed, or maybe a bedtime story? No. Try socks – try no socks? Try again. Maybe a night-light in her room or how about a sound machine? Nope sorry. Nothing works!
We’ve also have had a couple trips to our family doctor to make sure she doesn’t have an ear infection or teeth problems. Sorry Doc. Everything is normal.
The only conclusion we have come to is that she might have something called “Sleep Regression”. A natural occurrence that you usually hear happening to younger babies but can also happen to older toddlers as well. Their little minds can’t shut off at night and they fear they are missing out on some sort of fun while they lay in bed. Lucky us!
This sleep regression issue is by far the hardest thing we’ve had to deal with when it comes to parenting. We dread bedtimes now. Counting the minutes until the nocturnal meltdowns occur. Lyla has traded in her soft pillows, Care Bear sleeping friend, and numerous comfy blankets for horrific temper tantrums and mid-evil meltdowns.
My wife and I keep joking – “it’s just a phase, it’s just a phase, it’s just a phase…” and then we try to cry ourselves to sleep.
If you’re a parent dealing with this same situation, I feel your pain. I’m sharing the bags under my eyes with you and the quick afternoon catch up naps. Stay calm and try to laugh off the craziness -there is no fix for this but to just wait it out. Invest in Red Bull and keep the number for a good exorcist on hand …maybe they can help release the no sleep demons lurking in the next room.
Jeremy Padgett is a morning radio host and executive producer for The Dom and Jeremy Show on Denver’s Mix100.3. Get in touch with Jeremy on Facebook and on Twitter at @JeremyOnDaRadio.
