JFF- For Moms of Grown Kids

My dd is 8 and for the past 3 yrs I have been getting 7-8 hrs a night, longer at the weekends. If I went to my bed earlier I would get even more! :-)

My kids are grown 27, 24 and 22 and no I don't seep through the night, I wake up at least 2 to 3 times to pee.(Sorry) or one of the dogs come wake me up to let them out to go pee. It's all good though. J.

No, I really never have gone back to sleeping through the night.

The baby years just prep you for the teen years when your kids need to talk at strange hours of the night....or are out with friends and start making their own decisions... you wait up praying that what you have taught them all those younger years has sunk into the deep crevices of their heart and soul.

And the teen years prep you for the 20's when you have to completely let go of the reins.

Basically, the physically demanding years are replaced with emotionally demanding years. Both are draining.

When your kids move out and you get used to it, you might get a few years of good sleep if your kids are independent and not worrying you. Then you hit the 40's where perimenopause starts and you might as well be a nursing mom again because you wake up all night long like a newborn baby for the most part.
The only time I get a good nights sleep is NEVER ;)
I thrive on naps. I love naps and weekends. I do sleep really good when we are camping... and we leave tomorrow at 3pm, CANT WAIT!

yes - you do get back to normal sleep one day - I promise. Of course, then the teen years come, and peri-menopause so the sleep-deprived days also return too! Being a mom /woman just aint easy. I have a friend (male) who says it's all proof that God is a man... ;o)

For me, no. I have always dealt with insomnia.

I always
joke that I'll sleep when my youngest is 65.
It will come in small increments at a time you may make it all the way to 7 hours before the first one turns into a teen, then it will reverse again until you trust that you have done a good job raising them. Oh you may get extra sleep here and there when you don't have to worry on a Saturday morning that it's too quiet in the house and have to get up to find your 3 year old redecorating your dining room with sharpies you were too tired to put away the night before. Or that the beauty salon opened downstairs and they found the dye you bought a year ago and were too chicken to use. There is also that learning to let go of somethings in exchange for sleep, why the heck are you doing laundry or getting out a rag to clean at prime beauty sleep time. As my Mom always said a clean house will not help you look beautiful and healthy in old age, proper sleep will.

My kids are 5 and 8.
Waking up, going to sleep, waking up like that is Mommy-itis.
Even if my kids sleep all night. They no longer wake at night of course.

I can get 8 hours, if I want.
But I don't need much sleep.
I wake up early, naturally, and never need an alarm clock to wake up.
I wake before anyone else does, in my family.

I don't think so. I have been sleeping better lately than in years. But I still get up a lot.

You do get to go back to 8-10 hours of sleep when they are about 22 and on their own. If they were going to stay out (daughter) son was in the military by then and out of the house she would let me know and I would go to sleep and sleep like a baby. There were times when I would get a call and it would be my daughter that she wanted to come home and I would go get her and bring her home (before she bought a car). I knew all of her friends and where they lived so it was easy to get her.

Every one is different. You may have that "gutt" feeling that something is wrong and it usually is and you stay awake until you hear from them.

Now that I am in my 60s I sometimes take a nap on the weekends. Can't nap at work very easy but I have caught myself dozing but it usually when I don't feel well.

Just know that this too shall pass.

Have a good night's sleep.

The other S.

Well, once our kids were finally sleeping through the night, we automatically wake up at 7am anyway. I hate that!!!

I don't think I ever needed 8-10 hours of sleep...

I slept pretty well once the kids got over the waking up because they were scared or something age. Then when they were teens, I would stay half-awake until I knew they were home. Then, at 41 and my next youngest was 17, I had another baby!!

It is typical for me to wake up once or twice a night for any or no reason. But I don't feel sleep deprived, this is just normal now.

yea. . .kinda.

My kids are 21 and 17. I sleep WELL when I know everyone is safe and where they need to be. Our 21 year old was home this summer because of his job. And bless his heart, knows I don't sleep well when he's not in. Even though he had been used to having the freedom, was always home by midnight or I knew ahead of time he would not be home. Of course it helped he was at work by 6 am! ;)

But I'm also pre-menopausal so that doesn't help. Maybe as women-wives-mothers, we are just not supposed to get a restful, full-night's sleep!

Yes, at some point your children will be old enough to be awake with out you. Our daughter could get her own breakfast and watch TV in the mornings on the weekends at 5. Of course that will be a while till your youngest is that age,

And yes, you will get to really sleep again.

Im in my 50's and my body wakes up at same times as if i have to get kids ready or go to work. sleeping in is 7a.m. but i love early mornings, 5:30a.m.. i do take naps tho, anytime i want :)

Be thankful that you're getting 5 hrs. My daughter had difficulty sleeping, staying asleep, and would be mischievious once she would awaken (even though the house would be in a complete lockdown). That was 10 years ago, she just graduated from H.S.
We try to get her to bed early , usually stays up till midnight, then she wakes at 6 for school. We might get one more hour of sleep now, but honestly, it never changes until you become empty nesters. And, by then, you're too old to realize that you have had 10 hrs of sleep, or just forget.
Oh the joys of motherhood.

I've never slept 8-10 hours a night, kids or no kids. But once my daughter was out of the house, I did get back to my normal 4 - 6 hours a night.