Why I'm tired

Is there a Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child book for adults? Because I could use some help.

As I mentioned in passing yesterday, Isaac has been sleeping longer stretches. Last night was another one -- he slept from 9:45 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. without waking up, just over nine hours. Unfortunately that was the extent of his night. So although it was unbroken sleep, it wasn't enough for him -- it was at least an hour short -- but it could have been enough for me.

First let me explain his late bedtime. Isaac usually falls asleep between 8:00 and 9:00 p.m., but last night I went out to dinner with five other playgroup mothers, and Isaac wasn't interested in going to sleep without me. Meanwhile, I lingered over my chocolate soufflé and sparkling wine and didn't get home until nearly 9:30. (It was the first time since Isaac's birth that I had gone out alone -- except to go to work, the grocery store, the doctor, or the hairdresser -- and I had fun, thanks for asking.)

Then let me explain why Isaac's uninterrupted nine-hour stretch of sleep and a relatively humane 7:00 a.m. waking weren't enough for me. It's the same reason I'm tired after an ordinary night when he sleeps for five or six hours, wakes me up to nurse for 20 minutes, then sleeps for another five hours, an arrangement that in theory should also give me enough sleep.

The problem is that once I'm awake in the middle of the night, I can't fall back asleep. This has been happening for the last month or six weeks, and it totally sucks. It means that I'm the reason I'm tired, not Isaac. My child doesn't need sleep training, I do.

Last night Isaac didn't wake me up, but I got up to go to the bathroom -- and it took me two hours to fall back asleep. How unfair is that?