Super-Sleep

Since Beatrice Rose, (five months today!) has joined our family, we have been re-working our sleep life. At night I sleep on a full size matress with Beatrice and my husband sleeps on a twin matress with Elijah. Beatrice joined me all night from the time we brought her home, when she was only five pounds, and she still sleeps by my side and takes a nip whenever she goes through a light sleep cycle. I never had the crazy fatigue that I experienced when I brought Elijah home and got up to feed him when he woke.
Elijah has had trouble with night terrors. He went through a phase of waking up screaming, asleep with his eyes open, several times throughout the night. I have come to realize that he really needs a regular sleep routine with early bedtime and naps. He was functioning in a chronically overtired (and irritable) state for awhile, when I either had schedule conflicts that interrupted his nap and bedtimes, or just couldn't believe that he really needed that much sleep. When he was very small he went to bed four-thirty, and people would tell me that was wierd. Now that he is two and a half I have finally become convinced about the amount of sleep he needs and I have the determination and confidence to do what I need to do so he can get it.
We need to be home most of the day, and can't go out for more than about three hours, or one of the naps is messed up. With two little ones, it is not easy to get out anyway, so staying home is more appealing. Plus I can get lots done while they are napping.
There have been two times in Elijah's life when we have made significant sleep changes. The first was when he was about ten months old, and we night weaned him. We are in the process of the second change now, which is teaching him to go down for naps on his own. If you want to read about how we made either transition, see my posts on nap-teaching and night weaning. With Beatrice I am trying to start her early in forming more independent sleep habits than those her brother had. It has worked out well this way, because she is a more independant person, while Elijah has a high need for physical contact and "snuggling."
Now we are getting a sufficient amount of night time rest as a family, and the little ones are becoming happy little nap champs.