Re: Lots of children and sleep...

[Guest guest]

> If everyone used to have lots of kids, and often little space (ok,

> huge generalisation here, but you get the idea)... how did they sort

> out of the sleeping pattern of the littlest one?

> What did/do people do when they had lots of children and not a big

> house? Presumably they can't leave anyone to cry, as everyone else

> would be awake too (same problem we have whenever we go away). Or do

> everyone just share beds, and thus the baby feels nice and secure

and

> just sleeps with his mummy until he's old enough to move into bed

with

> his siblings?

Well I *only* have four children and two bedrooms, but I can hazzard

some guesses:

bedsharing

same bedtime for everyone.

younger children learn to sleep while older ones read in bed/listen

to the radio...

partitions - When DS2 was younger he had a curtain round his bottom

bunk (DS1 was hyperactive at that stage) so that he had some privacy.

parents went to bed early too - nothing interesting going on to keep

children awake...

We've never really had to sort out sleep patterns, but DD is a real

night owl, and went the evenings start drawing in we're going to have

to try something, thought I might follow sunset and put her to bed

slightly later each week, so that she gradually gets used to going to

sleep earlier and earlier...but that could just be wishful thinking

on my part.

Jan

running late for school AGM

[Guest guest]

> > If everyone used to have lots of kids, and often little space (ok,

> > huge generalisation here, but you get the idea)... how did they

sort

> > out of the sleeping pattern of the littlest one?

>

> > What did/do people do when they had lots of children and not a big

> > house? Presumably they can't leave anyone to cry, as everyone else

> > would be awake too (same problem we have whenever we go away). Or

do

> > everyone just share beds, and thus the baby feels nice and secure

> and

> > just sleeps with his mummy until he's old enough to move into bed

> with

> > his siblings?

From my own and others experiences of large families and lots of kids

in one bedroom:

Little ones usually learn to sleep through *anything*.

QED

Ruthie

[Guest guest]

This is my experience, too - though I wouldn't describe our family as large!

We were really nervous about putting DD2 into DS' room at night, but it had

to be done as she had to have a special orthopedic (sp?) mattress on account

of her broken collarbone(s) and it only came full cot sized. She wasn't

sleeping more than 2 or 3 hours at a time and we worried she'd wake DS up

constantly. She did for the first night, but since then he's slept through

all our comings and goings. I still get up to her once or twice a night

and he just never stirs! (Though one night last week I got up to her, and

noticed that his potty had been used - so he'd got himself up, weed and gone

back to bed. Clever boy!!)

Vicki Portman

http://www.plushpants.co.uk

>

> From my own and others experiences of large families and lots of kids

> in one bedroom:

>

> Little ones usually learn to sleep through *anything*.

>

> QED

>

> Ruthie