Another Sleep Post.

Hmmm, sleep. It always comes up and it's continuously a struggle. I'm not sure why it's such a hard thing to do, consistency is all that it takes and that seems to be the toughest part for each parent I've worked for.

It's funny that I'm trying to relax and not urge my views as much as usual, but it's frustrating too because Ivy is sick all. the. time. Over the twelve years I've nannied I've had quite the spam of families, parenting styles and children. There are universals but there are a lot of varieties. The majority of my kiddos have been pretty healthy though, three to five colds per year. I know the average is 11-13 but I always assume that takes into account daycare and it's a accepted fact that kids in daycare get more colds.

And I've tried imagining what 11-13 colds per year would look like. That is at least one cold per month. That means a week of incubation, a week of actively sick, a week of getting over it then a week off. Every month. And try as I might, I just couldn't imagine how it would look. But now I can. I see it clearly because this cycle has been my world for the last three to four months. Ivy keeps getting sick.

Unfortunately it is so much more than most of the kids I've cared for, but her daily sleep intake is less. I think these two things are directly related. Kids in daycare also sleep less, there's just less time for sleep, does this contribute? It definitely could.

Ivy sleeps from around 9pm until about 6am each night. That is nine hours. During the day she prefers less than three total, bringing her up to a big ol twelve hours of sleep per day - and she's ten months old! I know this is average and far from uncommon, but previously my charges were sleeping twelve full hours at night plus two to four hours during the day. Giving them almost sixteen hours of sleep each day - and only three to five colds per year!

When Ivy is sick, she sleeps even less. She doesn't nap at all for her parents on the weekends and is up a lot of the nights. I'd say this past weekend, over a sixty hour period, she slept 21.5 hours when I would have hoped she'd get at least 38 though the last kiddies would have done forty five.

I know that our society doesn't value sleep. That too much sleep is bad. That people fully believe kids sleep as much as they can. But I've also seen what consistency does. I've seen how during the week she can take a short nap and then an almost four hour nap. That on nights I've been doing the overnight she sleeps all night even if she's not 100%. And anything before 6am just isn't morning!

There isn't a quick solution here. There is a family figuring it out and a nanny offering support. And there is a little girl who is sicker every weekend than she is during the week.