For those of you with kids who wake up at night... - do you take turns if there are 2 parents

Hillbilly Housewife wrote: Zach wakes up at night sometimes...and DH takes care of it all. We used to take turns, so we'd both get more than 2 hours of straight sleep during our turn.... but now he does it all.

jdkjd replied: Ryan and I switch nights generally, but if Bailey's getting up a bunch we will take turns.

Kaitlin'smom replied: depends on the night, usualy I get up, but if she is up alot I will ask him to take her so I can get some sleep.

booey2 replied: Most times it is me because they usually don't ask for daddy and won't go back to sleep with him. That is because when they were little newborns I did it all. Never made dad get up because he had to go to work the next day and now I am paying for it. But as I lose weight I am finding it easier to function on less sleep. Years ago at my heaviest I really needed at least 9 hours straight, now I am lucky some nights to get 5 or 6 broken up.

Schnoogly replied: Well sometimes. It depends on what Iain wants, who he wants, and which of us is more exhausted. We cosleep so it is generally easier for me to nurse him back to sleep since I don't have to get out of bed. If DH takes him then he has to get up and carry him around. Recently he has let DH snuggle him a little instead of carrying, but this is rare.

Sometimes (like the night before last) DH took him all night in the spare bed/hammock/holding in the rocking chair so I could sleep. I was at the end...and it was very nice of him!!

When Iain was a tiny baby DH took him the first part of the night--from 6-midnight or 1--so I could sleep. 6 hours was the most I could go without nursing/pumping and I was desperate for sleep. We both got about 6 hours sleep this way. It was the only way we could function because Iain had to be held all the time then and couldn't sleep laying down because it was too hard for him to breathe.

shelrae00 replied: Terry,

Your house sounds exactly like ours. I have always done everything since hubby had to get up in the mornings. So now that he is retired from the AF and off for a few weeks he still can't really help becuase Sarynn wants nothing to do with him at night. I wish now I would have made him get up with her so he could help out now. Oh well! I should feel blessed that she loves her mommy so much !!! And I wish the weight loss thin g owrked for me. I have lost 35 lbs and am still pooped during the day if I did not get a full nights sleep. Which means I am always pooped cause she very rarely sleeps thru the night...

Shelly

MomofTay&Sam replied: Funny you should ask this! Sammy was up from 3 am -5am (very rare) When Sammy was very little my shift started at 1 am. Now DH takes all night duty. I am to spoiled.

booey2 replied:
I hear ya, I didn't feel a real difference til I lost close to 50 pounds. It can be really hard when both boys get up at the same time and one of the is sick then I am stuck with two screaming kids. Sometimes I can get DH to help me by getting a bottle or cleaning up but usually not so I end up sitting there with both boys in my arms ( 5yrs old and 23months) rocking them back to sleep.

PS congrats on the 35 pounds

coasterqueen replied: I am the only one who takes care of Kylie when she wakes at night. DH doesn't even try because he thinks she just wants to be nursed everytime, which is what I do. But I wonder if he went in there if he could get her to calm down and go to sleep, but I'll never know right, lol.

Oh well. She'll sleep thru the night someday. We definately plan to take turns when she weans from nursing.

mummy2girls replied:
i get up because i am alone. besides she only wants me when she gets up so having him wont matter

DansMom replied: I do all of the nighttime duty, but I don't mind because I'm not with him all day, and I miss time with him. Also, he is still nursing back to sleep most of the time (although lately he has been able to just resettle, especially on his first one or two awakenings). A couple of times when DH tried to help, Daniel just escalated in his crying and reached for me and said MAMA!!! So there you go. It's something I just can't ignore or sleep through

MomToMany replied:
My DH is the exact same way! He also thinks because he gets up and goes to work that he needs to sleep more. I think he's just lazy. I do usually nurse Hannah back to sleep, but not always. She just wants to snuggle sometimes.

momma2jenna replied: I do it all too, Jenna is bf, for one, and since dh works and I stay home, I think it's only fair to let him get a good night's sleep

dolfinrse replied: Dh does the night time duty right now, but that is only because he is home on workers comp. right now and I am working all day long.

MommyToAshley replied: When Ashley used to wake up at night, we rotated but I mostly did it when I was still BF through the night. Then, when we decided to wean her from the nighttime feedings (around 8 or 9 months), DH did a lot of it. He would just go into her room and pat her back to sleep because if she saw me, she wanted to nurse even if she wasn't hungry. Now, she sleeps pretty good at night. Once in a while she will wake up if she has gas or a bad dream. It just depends who is up as to who goes in her room to comfort her. She is happy with whoever comforts her. But, she pretty much sleeps through the night now.

aspenblue1 replied: When Isabella used to get up at night DH would go and bring her to me since I was BF then he would take her back. Now she pretty much sleeps through the night.

Maddie&EthansMom replied: DH has gotten up about 5 times in her life. Even when I worked he wouldn't wake up and see to her. I don't mind, though. I always loved waking up to see her in the middle of the night when the house was quite and it was just the two of us spending time together.