Sleepless in Singapore

Just before the clock strikes 12 midnight, while Cinderella is on her way home from the party, Hao Hao is on his way to DaDi and MaMi's room from the kids' bedroom.

He would sit at the corner of the bed quietly for a few seconds before he made his announcement of his grand arrival. Sometimes, MaMi the Light Sleeper would wake up before the announcement is made, pushes DaDi to one edge of the bed while rolling to the opposite edge of the bed, making a space of  half of the bed for Hao Hao to perform his signature "starfish" sleep pattern.

After a few minutes, on good days, DaDi would carry Hao Hao back to the kids' room without waking him up. On bad days, which account for 90% of the nights, Hao Hao would chase DaDi out of the room.

That doesn't mean MaMi has a luxury of sharing the bed with the smaller man. Those are bad days, remember?

Another few minutes later, MaMi would smell a foot, or would have 1 kg "scarf" on her neck.

Then another few minutes later, MaMi would suffer from a sore cheek or panda eye.

Let's investigate the root cause of this problem.

We DaDi tried "Cry-it-out" method to sleep train Hao Hao when he turned 3-month-old (MaMi did not have the heart to conduct the training). Unfortunately, DaDi gave up after a few nights. The persistent Hao Hao had no interest in pacifier and would stop crying until he was nursed by MaMi. Usually Hao Hao would stay in our bed after his supper, as we were too tired to bring him back to his cot.

Ever since Hao Hao was upgraded to sleep in toddler's bed, he would go over to DaDi and MaMi's room whenever he wakes up in the middle of the night.

Not that we are pampering him. The practical reason for giving in to Hao Hao is, we do not want his cries to wake his sister Pei Pei up, as her cries would wake the whole housing estate up!

I once asked Hao Hao why he wants to sleep in our room, he replied, "Because I like you ah." That is another reason why I give in to him.

This explains Hao Hao's habit.  

While many parenting books recommend various methods to sleep train children, and some comment on the cons of co-sleeping, I feel that we should not just follow the books without flexibility.

Well, while we still have sleepless nights ahead, I am sure that Hao Hao would not sleep with us the night before his National Service enlistment!