[sands]

The crib bedding post triggered this post.

The families I know who have adopted Russian babies & toddlers ALL say their children sleep like the dead. We spent a weekend with one of them and their 20mos. old little girl napped so well and sleeps 7pm-7am! Another family, the boys sleep for 3 hours in the afternoon and are in bed by 8pm!

So, let's see... who has sleepers and who doesn't???

[Waiting4Skip]

Skip does have a good sleep habits; he sleeps from roughly 8 p.m. til 7 - 7:30 and before we changed the clocks the end of October he was sleeping from 8:30 til 8-8:30 the next day. He also gets at least 3 hours sleep each day. Usually he takes 2 naps: one at 10ish until 12 noon, and then a late afternoon one from 3:30 or 4 til 5. Some days he just takes one long nap from 12ish til 3 or 4!

They are kept on such strict routines in the orphanages that it wasn't a surprise that he would be a good sleeper. Where he was, the group went for naps at the exact same time every day. The younger kids were put in the cribs from 10 til 12 and from 3 til 5 then went to bed for the nite by 7:30 and they were taken out of the cribs at 7:00. It didn't matter if they were tired, not tired - whatever - this was THE SCHEDULE. If they woke up early, then learned early on that nobody would come for them, thus they (sadly) learn to amuse themselves quietly. To this day Skip still doesn't cry or "call"us when he gets up. He just plays until we go get him. I know it was the same at nap times - whether or not they were tired, they were put down for naps and they stayed there until the appointed time. Again, they'd quietly amuse themselves if they wake up early OR if they aren't tired and can't fall asleep right away. Many times I'll put Skip in and think he's asleep, and tip-toeing in to tuck him in, find he's wide awake playing with his blankie...

Judy

[Vicki H]

Alex takes about a 2 1/2 to 3 hour nap everyday. He goes to bed around 8:00 - 8:30 everynight and on the weekend wakes at 7:30-8:00.
We wake him at 6:50 during the week, unfortunatley we both have to go to work. I hate having to wake him.

Vicki

[Waiting4Skip]

I should have added that while Skip gets alot of sleep, he is a VERY light sleeper - which surprises us since we thought that sleeping with 12 other kids every day would make him "used" to the noise. Anyone else notice the same thing?

Judy

[mgibson]

My son has always been a good sleeper. Naps still about 2-3 hours and sleeps well at night.

My daughter tho has never been a big sleeper. When we first came home she was up several times at night at first to be feed, then to be held. While we were able to get her to sleep through most of the night after she started eating solid food, she continued to wake up at least once until she was about 19 months. She was also very difficult to put down to sleep. Always only napped about an hour. Whew! we have had a time with her sleeping.

But now shes two and sleeps very well. Still a short napper, but she is going to bed much more easily and staying in bed all night no problem. We were told by some of the ECI folks that she may have just been over stimulated and had get used to all of the new noises, smells, etc. to get into a good sleep pattern.

Melissa

[bratgirl]

Both of our kids are good sleepers. Hayden is 3 1/2 and is outgrowing his naps. When he does take a nap it could be from 30 minutes to 1 hr. Helena sleeps for about 1 1/2 to 2 hrs a day. Hayden is in bed by 8 pm and usually gets up around 7:30 or 8 pm. Helena is a party girl after my own heart and if left to her own devices would be up until 10:30 or 11 pm everynight. Fortunately - we are able to get her to sleep by 8:30 by Kevin taking her for a car ride. She sleeps until 8:30 or 9 am every day.

I have to go back to work this Friday so I will have to get them both up at 6:45 on school days. Luckily, I can leave them in their pjs and take them to my friend's house around the corner - so hopefully they can lay around or go back to sleep after that. We'll see how that works out. Now - if they wake up too early (which is rare) - they either climb back into their own beds or with me until they are ready to start the day. We have VERY lazy mornings around my house - it stinks that it has to change!

[Animalcrackers]

Jacob is also a very good sleeper. On most days he takes 2 2 hr. naps. Like Skip,he is so quiet, and I don't actually know whether or not he is asleep or awake. We have been home for almost 6 months, and he still doesn't call or cry when he is awake. He goes to bed very easily. He usually goes down at about 7 to 7:30 pm and sleeps until 7:45 on weekends and 7:00 on weekdays. Lately, when we go in to get him, he doesn't want to get out of his crib. He scoots to the farthest corner and says "nope".

[dvona]

My daughter sleeps through the night, 12 hours, though she too is a very light sleeper. During the day is another story, most days she'd stay up the whole while, if she could. She plays so loudly in her crib---I sometimes wonder if I should even bother trying to nap her---but 'ol mom needs a break too---and some down time for my dd is still better than nothing!

D

[Dobby]

We have struggled with Roman's sleep. He too is a very light sleeper. Will wake 2-3 times every night. Sometimes we think it's for no reason, but we're guessing the cats must make noise playing and wake him up.

NAPS: When we first got home he was taking two naps, an hour in the morning and 1 to 1-1/2 hours in the afternoon. Once we started daycare in the afternoons in August, they have "naptime" for 2-1/2 hours. They report that Roman would just sit there playing and looking around. Some days he wouldn't nap at all. Now it's 1 hour to 1-1/2 hours. Although at home on weekends, we're lucky if we can get him to nap at all. He'll cry and cry... then amuse himself... then yell for us to come get him. The best sleeps we've gotten out of him is when we're driving in the car.

At night, at first he was going to bed at 7pm and waking between 5:30 and 6:00. That was horrible. We moved him to 7:30 and right on schedule, would wake between 6:00 and 6:30. We've now moved him to 7:45, and it seems to be magic - he's now sleeping until 7am or 7:30am most days. We have never, ever had to wake him up - he is always up first. We suspect he's playing for close to a half-hour before he calls for us though. He does begin to cry if we don't come in when we hear him moving around.

[ahnasmom]

Originally posted by sands
The families I know who have adopted Russian babies & toddlers ALL say their children sleep like the dead.

hehehehehahahahahahaHEHEHEHEHAHAHA!!! Sorry, but not ALL!

Ahna from day one was easy...12 -14 hours through the night...2 naps a day. Now at 3.25 she prefers not to nap but we usually get 1/2 to an hour and she still sleeps about 12 straight hours at night.

Alex, oh my little Alex...good thing he's cute! He was a HORRIBLE sleeper for the first 4 months...5, 6, 7, 8 times a night he was up screaming...I now understand sleep deprivation. Then the next couple of months 2'ish times a night....now once a night and maybe a couple of days a week, just maybe, he sleeps the whole night. Except for last night...he got me 5 times.

The last few months, he wakes because he is hungry...he eats like a pig all day long and still has a formula bottle right before bed...and at about 2:30am, he can suck back an 8 ounce bottle in less than 5 minutes, so I'm only up 10 minutes....heaven compared to before.

He is 16 months now so I am hoping he's going to grow out of this phase soon. I really think a lot has been related to catching up on growth...he's gained 9 lbs and grown 4+ inches in 8 months home.

[sands]

These were all very interesting posts! Thanks for sharing!

I LOOOOOOOOOVE to sleep so it will be interesting what our 2 will do.

[jimpol]

My son Andrew was adopted at 17 months and has always slept through the night. He is now almost three and goes to bed at 8-8:30pm and I have to get him up about 7:00am on the weekdays. On the weekends sometimes he will sleep until 8am. Yeah!

Naps were a struggle at first, but once we finally got in the routine he became a good napper. He sleeps between an hour and 2 hours everyday. He even does that at his preschool. Sometimes it is hard to settle him down, but I believe that a good nap makes for a much happier Andrew and Mommy.