By LIA SPENCER
WHOEVER coined the term “sleep like a baby” obviously never had children.
I always associated the popular phrase with being in a deep and heavy sleep, one where your head hits the pillow and you wake up 10 hours later in the same spot, feeling extremely refreshed and ready to tackle your day.
Hogwash.
If we “slept like babies” we would wake up every few hours, screaming for food, wanting a cuddle, looking for our teddybear (or in Isla’s case, her stuffed elephant), or just wanting to play.
Now I can’t really complain because Isla has usually been a decent sleeper, apart from teething time. But she is not one to close her eyes, roll over and fall into a deep sleep until morning.
No, no, no.
If she was, I wouldn’t enjoy the occasional sleep-over in my bed or same-room stay.
On the odd occasion when she can’t get back to sleep, I have attempted to bring her into our bed for a cuddle. Afterall, Michael and I did buy a king-size bed because we pictured a future of children wanting to crawl in after a nightmare or early Sunday morning.
But Isla lasts about five minutes in our bed, tops. She usually rests her head on one of us, then proceeds to kick the ?!@#! out of the other. Sometimes she will throw in a head butt, or a karate chop, and she usually ends up tearing the sheets off of us, because she either hates blankets or loves to see us suffer from the cold. Either Michael or I end up cracking it and tucking her back in her bed.
It’s been awhile since she has made a fuss, and I almost forgot how much of a noisy sleeper she could be until we went to Glenelg for a relaxing getaway with the in-laws last weekend.
Michael decided to forgo the portacot and get a room with two beds, so she could sleep in one by herself. I surrounded the sides with pillows and gave her a cuddle until she felt comfortable in her new surroundings and fell sleep.
But only a couple hours later I woke to her propped up on the pillow, with a cheeky look on her face, ready to make the one foot leap from one bed to another. Even in her little sleeping bag, that 20-month-old girl has the same fear factor as Evil Knievel.
I quickly sat up, laid her on her back and told her to get back to sleep. Then that was it. Every little movement she made or noise she muttered, I had to sit up and make sure she wasn’t going to do a tuck and roll onto the floor.
She started out in the middle of the bed, rolled her way onto the side, then the other side, then did a complete 180, ending up with her feet near the headboard.
She accompanied her sleeping dance with a little song of whimpers, coughs, snores and cries. All while she slept – “like a baby”.
Luckily she had so much fun the next couple of days that she completely wore herself out and didn’t roll around or make as much noise when she slept, and we all good a good night’s rest. I think she may be a little overwhelmed with all the space a big bed has to offer- so it may be a good idea to keep her confined to a cot for a few more months.
