Roughly 2 years ago, when she was just 2, we put our precious Princess in a *big girl* bed and threw her binkies (pacifiers) in the garbage. Ever since then she has been a horrible sleeper. Sure, there's the expected adjustment to being mobile and out of a crib but it was more than that. My wife, of course in typical female-hindsight fashion, lamented that we took away the binky too soon.
My daughter not only kept waking up at night - she'd wake up screaming her head off and/or she'd make her way down to our bedroom - perhaps 2 out of every 3 nights. It got so bad that we turned the door-knob around on her bedroom and started locking her in her room! See - On Child Incarceration - for the start of this saga.
Though we didn't actually lock her in for more than a handful of times. We used it mostly as a threat, that if she got out of bed one more time that night we'd lock her in. This worked but only to a small extent. Over time we've grown used to her climbing into our bed in the wee hours - after all she's as cute as a button, still only 29 pounds, and a great snuggler. Plus her *night terrors* are pretty scary. She'll sit up in bed screaming - even when sleeping between me and her mother - and we all but have to slap her silly to wake her up. So given all that, what's a loving parent going to do but slide over in the bed and make room?
But help may be on the way...
A few weeks ago, while at the pediatric dentist the hygienist there informed me that my Princess had *extremely large tonsils* and that they were *almost touching*.
So, what does that mean? They should come out, right?
Well, apparently tonsils this big often cause severe sleep problems as they retard proper respiration at night - they induce some sort of *sleep apnea*. Hmmmm...
I mentioned this potential insight to a local *mom* who told me her daughter had the same sleep problems until enlarged tonsils were fingered as the culprit and removed. Her daughter, post-surgery, instantly started sleeping like a baby.
Then yesterday I found this precise affliction listed in some *baby/toddler* sleep book so I'm pretty confident, and hopeful, that simply removing our angel's tonsils will restore peace to EVERYONE's sleep schedule.
Now I don't need much sleep, nor am I much of a through-the-night-sleeper myself, but I was up with my daughter probably 6 times on Saturday night. It's been a long last two years - actually a long 5.5 years since that's when her brother arrived!
See also - To Jail Or Not To Jail?
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