Out of interest, how often do you "check" your sleeping children?

[scarletlilybug]

That's it, really.

Unless one of mine is unwell or upset, I never "check" between bedtime and waking-up time - which is 10-12 hours at a stretch. (Actually, that sounds quite a long time, put like that). Anyeway, have 3 children aged 8, 5 and 3.

But some of the things posters put on other threads make me wonder if this is highly unusual behaviour. Is it?

Don't 'check' so much as go to have a sneaky look at them all gorgeous and sleepy before I go to bed. will also tuck them in if necessary.

Check on DD1(4) when we go to bed, and if I hear any random noises from her.

Don't check DD2(18mths), but she normally wakes up within 30 mins of us going to bed.

I only check mine if they are unwell

I check on my DD1 and DD2 just before i go to bed which is around 1am! But i might have been snoozing on sofa between 11pm and 1am.
Just to make sure that they have their covers on.
Then around 3am, DD2 gets into our bed anyway.

I don't. My husband has always done our final check at about 10.30pm. I'm probably being lazy but it's kind of 'his' part of the nightly routine, that last look at them. It's sweet to see him fuss over their covers.

When I do go and check I almost feel I'm interfering in something special between them and so I let him do it.

I have plenty of time to check on the little darlings in the rest of the day.

lift dd at about half 10, so check ds then

5 and 3.
I look at them when I go to bed, I like to see them sleeping.

I also put their clean clothes away while they are sleeping.

I nip into them both as I am going to bed, not to check on them as such, but to make sure DS1 has put his book down properly, he has fallen asleep with it on his bed many times, and then it falls off in the night with a bang, and then everyone is up.

If they are ill I do check a bit better...

I'm usually trying really hard not to wake dd up never mind checking on her...she insists on sleeping with her door wide open and we have lots of creaky floorboards on our landing and in the bathroom so when i go to bed I tend to tiptoe around -

even so i normally hear her turn over as I have half woken her as I go past her room

she's a bit of a heavy breather too so i can hear her without actually going into her room

If unwell, and also we open their doors when we go to bed and sort any rearranging of child in odd positions, they are closed when the children go to bed because our cat would just snuggle up with them

I don't ever check on DD - I would probably wake her up if I went in her room. And then have to spend 2 hours getting her back to sleep

Don't check, though I do pass ds's bedroom door on my way to bed and his bed is opposite the door, so may give him an affectionate look. When they were little might have looked because they were cute but not checked as such.

I used to check my dd when I went to bed, (she's 18mo) right up until the night I checked on her, inadvertantly woke her up, and was up for the next 4 hours with her, since she obviously felt she'd had enough sleep. SO now, never.

I go to look and dote but never move him because he wakes up baffled and cross if I do! SUch a joy not to be woken up every two hours now

never. they never sleep for long enough stretches to worry me... in fact the rare times that dd1 has slept through the night i have lied in bed convinced she was dead, yet didnt get up because i thought if she wasnt and i woke her up accidentally, i'd kill myself.

sleep is for the weak, repeat after me.

i check that mine are in bed when i wake up in the morning - these darn teenagers go to things called parties

I never check. I might have done with ds1 when he was little, but just because I liked watching him sleeping peacefully.

there is no way on god's earth I would check on ds2 becaue that would risk waking him up which is a bad, bad, BAD thing

I go into dd (3) when I go to bed, dh does same. She is usually out of the covers/bunny has gone awol so usually one of us rearranges her a bit.

Bit hit & miss here, sometimes check, sometime dont. No mad compulsion to do it ... Also a bad mum :-)

we don't unless they are unwell.

they're light sleepers and it would take them forever to get back to sleep.

they like their door closed.

Just once, on my way to bed, because they both tend to leave their lights on and often a radio. I love it - I can stroke ds1's forehead and kiss him and he doesn't stir.

Can barely look at ds2 and he's awake, but it's just sooooooo lovely going in every night.

Kind of settles me down for the night as well!

don;t check at home between lights out and lights on. If he's in a strange bed away from home I'll maybe check once in evening and at my bedtime as I may well be sharing a room / bed with him

I check mine before I go to bed - to slide him back down the bed and under the covers (!), and to kiss his little cheeks goodnight.

Dh and I check on ds1 when we go to bed and smugly congratulate ourselves on what a gorgeous boy we have. Bitter experience has taught us not to do the same with ds2 who is a much lighter sleeper and can be up for a couple of hours if disturbed.