Friday, October 16, 2009
FIVE MONTHS OF SLEEPLESS NIGHTS
How can a Mother Love their baby so much one moment, and "hate" their baby almost equally another moment? I'll tell you how. It only has two words to describe it. DAY and NIGHT. Pretty much a Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde effect. My baby is now inching toward Five months old and I am MORE than ready for him to give me a good night sleep! Everyone says its the "parents job" to determine their baby's sleep schedule, but that is NOT the case in this house. My girls were sleepers! They loved it! They loved their binkies, and they were sleeping 12 hour nights by 6 months. Logan on the other hand, loves to eat more than sleeping. I've tried the "rice cereal thing" before bed....oh no....he can't stand the stuff! I've put it in is bottle, and the second he realizes what it is, he makes a sour face and spits it out. Not to mention, it did NOT help him sleep longer. He loves his binkie, but when he wants to eat, it does not pacify. I'm trying to be a trooper and just be tough. I know this won't go on forever, but when you haven't had a good night sleep in 5months (not including the last couple months of pregnancy), it begins to wear on you. I end up getting up with him at least Three times a night. I was taking Tylenol PM before I go to bed, so that when he woke me up, I could go back to sleep. I quit doing that because the Tylenol could have bad effects on your liver. Anyway, last night I broke! He won't go to sleep till 9:30. So Alex and I went to bed around 10. Logan was fussing around 12:30am. I gave him his Nuk and went back to bed. At 1:40...again... the nuk. At 2...I gave up and fed him while dreaming of "drop kicking him". (Sorry but true). Then after bawling to Alex on how tired I was, I think I finally fell back asleep around 3. 5:30ish, Alex is up for work. 6:20ish, Logan is fussing again. I give him the nuk and crawl back in bed. By this time I am exhausted. 7:15, alarm clock, time to get Dejah ready for school. The day is officially started. 8:00, off to school then back to feed Logan (again), and get Mycah breakfast. After that I either Blog or shower. Etc...etc... Oh, the pain. I just needed to complain a bit. If you have any Magic recipe on getting baby's to sleep, I am all ears. Also I need a vote. Do I take his Nuk away now and make him learn how to self soothe at night by making him cry, or do I keep doing the Nuk thing until he learns how to put it back in his own mouth?
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When Malia was born i was so tired that (in my sleep) I reached over and turned her baby monitor off! I had a better sleep than I ever had....until my mom came in screaming at me that my baby had been crying for hours.....woops;)
ReplyDeleteThat is so tough. I think him and Colt are in kahootz. My little man is an eater. I have zero binky advice. My two oldest boys got sick of them around seven months - so that made my life easy. Good luck :(
ReplyDeleteI know how you feel, it does get exhausting! None of my boys have slept through the night until they over 12 months. Keyne is also waking up 2-3 times a night. Hopefully soon Logan will get better and you can start sleeping again!
ReplyDeleteI also began turning the monitor off almost every night/morning in my 1/2 sleep. Sometimes I think my 2 hours of sleep and sanity is worth the baby being hungry (who WILL survive, b/c he eats plenty!) and bored for 2 hours! Invest in some good earplugs, or plug in an ipod for a bit with some nice sleepy music!! Once in a while, it's okay! Good luck and NAP during the day when you can!!
ReplyDeleteI only have experience from Corbin so who knows maybe Baby Wise won't work with this next baby, but according to that book good sleeping patterns are based on regular feeding patterns. I always recommend Baby Wise and I know you already know all about that. Some parents hate that book though. I would try getting him on a consistent feeding schedule and see what happens. Good luck. No sleep is miserable.
ReplyDeleteOf course I totally agree with the ear plugs and letting him cry it out too. But I know your house is small like mine so that might not work too well.
Mitzi
Preston slept through the night for about a month then he turned 3 1/2 months and got teeth and that was the end of it. He still wakes me up to eat in the middle of the night, I say 2x but technically one is in the morning 7 am. I have tried to give him the binkie and he just wakes me up in a hour. So I just feed him and enjoy the sleep. I am addicted to tylenol pm, trying to ween myself. Can't wait for tomorrow. Let's all pretend we don't have kids, and then kiss them when we get home!
ReplyDeleteI would suggest letting him cry it out. With Ayla it took 3 solid nights of crying at 6mths and then she was sleeping through the night. With Peyton is only took 1 1/2 nights at 6 mths and then he was more or less sleeping through the night. If you are worried about him waking the girls up, put a fan in their room and/or some soft music...my kids always sleep with soft music on it helps to drown out the outside noises that seem to wake them up sometimes. good luck, hope it gets better soon!
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