Get A Room

I feel like a need to be a HUGE disclosure at the beginning of this blog post: I am not writing this to imply that I'm some know-it-all when it comes to sleeping patterns and training your children.  I hate those types of people whether in person or as bloggers.  No one cares about your unsolicited advice.  In fact I would venture to say that people that tell you everything they're doing right as a parent (and conversely everything you are doing wrong) are some of the most hated people in the world.  You're mother of the year and we're like a lost child in the woods.  We get it.  Nobody wants to hear it, and you are secretly (or not so secretly) who every other parent makes fun of.   We also don't want to hear how much more advanced your kid is.  Guess what?  Your little MENSA-wannabe still eats boogers when you aren't looking just like every other kid.  Save your honor roll bull for the other one-upper parents.

Wow.  There was a lot of pent-up frustration coming out there.  Vitriolic even.  And that was only my disclaimer.

I wondered aloud during our vacation why parents would ever willingly sleep in the same room as their babies/kids/whatevers.  This was on night four of sharing a room with Grace and Ana, and I wasn't sleeping all that well as a result.  They were both dealing with new teeth.  They were in a place that they aren't used to in pack and plays instead of cribs.  There was the elevation change.  The girls became nocturnal creatures.

It even changed the way I operated on my day to day.  I actually took naps (something I never do).  I spent much of the time exhausted.  Basically I became a zombie with each poor night of sleep.  And I couldn't believe that some parents welcome this.

I understand that oftentimes there are space limitations for new parents.  Must of us don't have large houses to hide the kids away at night, so I totally get that there are many families that don't have the option but to sleep with a crib in their room.  I'm not talking about those parents.

I know that there are parents out there that make a conscious choice to have their kid(s) in their bedroom with them even after the recommended time.  We're talking at well beyond the nine month mark.  This seems insane to me.  How do you ever get a good night's sleep?  Aren't you constantly being woken up by their middle of the night grunts and groans?  Don't you worry that you'll never break them of the habit of needing to be with you in order to sleep?  Or is it more a habit for you?

I just can't handle it.  I'm normally a very heavy sleeper, but having them in the same room destroyed even that notion.  I'm up with every noise.  For whatever reason, the monitor is easier to sleep through than having them five feet away.  It helps that the monitor really only trigger with sharp noises instead of the constant normal baby noises, but there is no escape from that when they're right there.  Every shift, sigh, grunt, sleeping cry, etc was right on top of me.  Mocking me.  Slapping me in the ear in the middle of my sleep cycle.

So I wonder why any other rational, sleep-loving individual would put him or herself through that every single night?  What is the reasoning?  Seriously?