As an infant, Grace was always a challenge to get to fall to sleep.  You couldn’t swaddle her tight enough… and we tried everything to soothe her.  We experimented with all the different swaddling blankets and wraps -- “baby straight jackets” as I used to refer to them. They would help after she was asleep, but none seemed to ease her into a restful slumber.  

As she got older, she would fight even harder, forgetting something down stairs, or wanting one more hug or saying her sister was keeping her up, when all the while her sister had long since gone to sleep.  

I bring up Grace’s sister for a variety of reasons.  First off,  Grace met Georgia for the first time 5 months after her own birth.  Georgia was born in November 2009. She was a Frozen Embryo Transfer or FET and came into our lives when Grace was already 5 months old. Grace and Georgia were not even close to being “twins” in any sense of the word. They were never on the same feeding schedule, never in the same diaper size and never really “in sync” at any point in their growth. Despite people finding similarities between the two girls, they were and are very different -- especially when it came to their sleep history and habits.   

I noticed down the road that when we would travel with Grace and Georgia or when Grace would climb into bed with my wife and I, it became “Full Contact Sleeping.”  My wife and I felt like were in the fight of our life -- a kick to back here, the old roll over face slap there or (of course) the horizontal crotch kick that did so much more than just wake me up from a sound slumber.

Out for an evening’s soiree, we even went so far as to bid on a particularly silent auction item: ONE FREE CHILD SLEEP TRAINING SESSION --  great except for the fact that it turned to be more traumatic for Mom than the girls). It got to the point where the sleep trainer suggested that Mom open a bottle of wine, sit back and watch the baby monitor while the girls cried and eventually soothed each other to sleep.(“Just make sure they don’t hurt each other.”)  I have to say it did work and to be clear Grace was almost 2 years old and for those of you keeping trace, Georgia was 5 months behind.  In no time at all, Georgia fell asleep on her back. Grace did well also, but not before trying (vigorously) to wake Georgia. Grace outlasted Georgia by a good 30 minutes, and my wife slept well that night.

In my mind, the checklist grew... 

            ✔ Difficulty Falling Asleep

            ✔ Difficulty Staying Asleep

            ✔ Excessive movement

            ✔ Grinding and bruxing

            ✔ Forward head posturing

We would love to hear your experiences, thoughts and opinions.  We understand there are many things that might cause restlessness, excessive nighttime movement and difficulty falling asleep, so as we move from blog to blog in this series,  it would be great to hear from you healthcare professionals and parents out there regarding your learning curve in regard to sleep disorders and dysfunction. Tell us your story!