Organizing Thursday: Water-Resistant/Fireproof Document Bag

Does anyone have kids that are nearing 2 that still wake up 1-2x nightly? Our DD has slept through the night maybe 10% of the time since she was born and we’re expecting another baby in 3 months. I just don’t know when this will end and how we’ll manage with two kids.

We go in when she calls for us, and spend about 30 seconds telling her to lie back down. She does and then sometimes she doesn’t wake until the morning. Other nights, like last night, she’s up every 30 minutes from 2:30-4:00 am, where I finally gave her some milk and motrin. I have no earthly idea what the issue is. She just wants us to hold her, but if we tell her to lie down, she does. Her teeth have come in much slower than normal, so maybe that’s the issue, but sleep has been generally much worse from 12 months onward than when she was a baby. She takes about a 1.5 hour nap and sleeps at 7:30 pm and wakes around 6:30-7:00 am.

Just so depressing to have a high-energy toddler during the day, a spouse in a super demanding job, and then get such interrupted sleep while pregnant. I have such anxiety about a newborn, primarily because the older one is still not a good sleeper. Also, if she can’t sleep in the crib, I don’t know how we’ll ever manage in a toddler bed. I don’t even know what to do.

I know this has been discussed before, but talk to me about spacing your kids. Here is a whole bunch of information about my specific situation – looking for your thoughts on what would work. My daughter is 16 months and still nursing about 4 times a day. I don’t really want to wean her to nothing, but I require fertility treatments to get pregnant so Clomid may kill my supply to that point. My ideal would be to start trying when she’s around 18 months, but we are moving in July (20 months) so I was going to just wait and avoid switching from one RE to another. The kicker is that we are moving for a one year position for my husband. So he’ll be starting a new job next July or August which means we could be moving with a super newborn, or I could be delivering in his first month or two at a new place. I am probably just borrowing trouble because it took 15 months of off/on treatment to get pregnant last time but the uncertainty is driving me crazy.

My twins are approaching the 4 month mark and I’m thinking about sleep training. There are so many resources that it can be overwhelming to start. For those who sleep trained around 4-5 months, what did sleep training mean to you? Teaching baby how to fall asleep and stay asleep independently (unswaddled?)? Eliminating any remaining night feedings for a full 12 hours of sleep? Are there any particular books or methods you’d recommend? If anyone has experience sleep training twins I’d love to hear that, too.

I love love love our nanny for our 14-month old. I’ve seen other nannies in action and I know she is phenomenal and incredibly reliable – literally never been late in almost a year. She has a five-year old who is in pre-k, which is of course getting out for the summer. She’s dropped a few hints about how she’s not sure what she’ll do with him and I know she is feeling us out to see if we would be ok with him coming to work with her. My husband and I are not excited about this prospect. We’ve let her bring him for a few days in the past when school was cancelled for snow, etc. and I was not impressed with his behavior. I know he is five and I don’t think his behavior is crazy out of line for the age or anything, jumping on our couches, not listening to her when she says it is time to leave, throwing toys, etc. So we’d prefer he not be at our house five days a week.

What can we do to keep our nanny feeling valued and happy but also not have her son come to work for three months? We’ve debated giving her a bonus to help pay for camps but I’m a little annoyed at having to pay for childcare for her kid and my kid. We decided we’d be ok if he came for two days a week but all summer would be too much. Maybe there is cheaper camp option for three days a week? We’re in nyc FWIW.