What age were your DC when you got to have more sleep and a lie in? And also maybe a lie in with your partner? I have two DC - DS 3.5 and DD 1.
DD is an alright sleeper but my god DS 3.5 does not get much sleep and almost 4 years of broken sleep has aged me and no end and is slowly killing me. He’s up 4:50am most days. Sometimes he’ll have one wake up a night. He will sometimes sleep at 7pm but lately it’s been 8/8:30pm. I try to go to bed at 9:30/10pm so it means I get barely any adult time in the evenings. I will sometimes turn down going to social things with friends if it means a late night as I struggle so much if I can’t sleep.
We live in a small house with thin walls and once DS is up that’s it. I have tried everything to get him to sleep longer or at least stay in his room quietly. Gro clock/sleep consultant/blackout blinds/white noise/ gate/reward charts/yoto player. Tried getting him to co sleep. Nothing works. If the gate is shut in his room he screams blue murder and we can’t wake the neighbours so DH and I take it in turns to take DS downstairs so we can each get a bit more sleep but the sudden wake ups and lack of sleep every morning is just so soul crushingly painful. We tried leaving him to it in the morning by letting him go downstairs but I can hear him clattering away and we came down to an almighty mess in with cornflakes everywhere so he’s not ready to be left unsupervised. He’s such a happy lovely little soul but he’s got the energy of a manic untrained puppy.
The last time I have an unbroken 8hr sleep was when I went away for a night in Jan 2020 and it was glorious.
I told a child free friend I would love a lie in until 7am and she looked at me in horror which made me feel even worse.
Please tell me there is light at the end of the tunnel because I spend most days feeling knackered and like I want to collapse in a heap.