isaac is in the swing.
chad is out to buy diapers.
i am in the glider, pumping.
and typing.
because i have a situation on my hands.
some of my close friends have already been asked for their advice (sorry if this is repetitive to y'all!)
anyways.
isaac has staged a rebellion of massive proportions.
my PRECIOUS baby used to sleep 12 hours a night.
i don't wanna brag, and i never did, because typically in mommyland when you get all high on your horse -- karma has a way of smashing you down REALLY quickly and rubbing all of your previous accomplishments in your face :)
but for the sake of this story -- from the time isaac was 3mths old, he slept from 8-8. it was glorious. glorious sleep returned to our house. twelve solid hours of miraculous sleep.
and like a thief in the night. it's all over. gone. no more. bye bye.
starting a few weeks prior to christmas, my darling started doing this thing where he'd scream at 1am, 4am, 6am, and then wake up for the day at 8am. so fine. he still slept till 8am...but WHAT GIVES. he was neither hungry, wet, or ready to party. it was a matter of nursing him for 3 minutes (give/take a few...sometimes 30 seconds. sometimes 10 minutees) and watching him pass out again, until the two hours later.
i kept thinking it was a fluke. it'll stop. he's a phaaaaaaaaaase. growth spurt? teeth? ear infection? SOMETHING! this can't all be just for ....fun.
he screamed so much on christmas eve, we ended up in the ER.
and the shady baby that he is -- he decided to laugh at the Docs, roll over for the first time on the hospital bed, and defy all odds. no ear infection. "sorry lady, your baby is perfectly fine."
so for the last month, like clockwork, i've gotten up 3x a night again.
i EVEN in my desperation tried to let him cry it out (GASP! HORRORS! ABUSE!) for thirty minutes...and yes, he cried for the 30 minutes and had i NOT just been in there an hour earlier, i would not have KNOWN that his diaper was fresh, his belly was fine and that he just wants to be ROCKED/NURSED/CRADDLED back to sleep. hella no.
we have not tried crying it out since then bc it didnt' work. sure, he passed out, but he woke up again 30 minutes later as if the whole crying it out episode was a nightmare that he now needed additional comfort for.
*sigh*
after going 2 mths of PERFECT SLEEP....WHAT IS GOING ON....
his weight can sustain 12 hours w/o eating.
the docs told me to give him motrin before bed bc he IS teething...but that still doesnt' change anything.
and before you suggest it -- you should know he's NOT comforted by the pacifier. it PALES in comparison to being picked up and coddled. he's so got my number.
so.
do i continue to endorse these bad habits and give in?! he will be SIX MTHS OLD in 2 weeks....he's TOO OLD for this.
do i hold off at each episode, for, say, 10 minutes and wait until he's ALL HOT AND BOTHERED, in hopes he'll recognize that all is well and nod off again?
do i just let him wail it out, because we've done this song and dance enough now and with enough PRECISION TIMING to know it's his inability to comfort himself back to sleep that is the root of the problem?
(please spare me of the 'cry it out' debate. i've read the books. i'm an attached parent. i'd never deny the kid anything IF HE NEEDED IT.)
he's now asleep in his swing. :)
::: pumping session over :::
3 comments:
Sounds like teething to me, girlfriend. I can't tell you for sure because Isaiah is 7 months old today and has cut nary a tooth, but it sure sounds like it, especially since the ear infection is out. Surely some other more seasoned mom will give you some good advice! After months of sleeping all night, I'd be pulling my hair out, too!
My daughter started teasing us with sleeping through the night at 4 1/2 months, about 9-10 hours a night. By 6 months she was sleeping 10 hours solid (8pm -6am) and my husband and I were high-fiveing each other because our kid sleeps ! ( and still took 2 -3 naps a day) Cheers to us! It was a glorious month. We should not have celebrated so soon. A week before she turned 7 months old she cut two teeth. learned to crawl and started to learn to pull herself up to standing, and it was all over. She did not sleep through the night again consistently until she was ten months old. Those three months were hell. Some nights she would only wake once for ten minutes, just need a gentle pat and go back to sleep til morning. Some night she would be up two or three times screaming on and off for two or three hours. SOME nights ( particularly when we would have either my parents or my in-laws babysitting) she would mysteriously sleep through the night. My mother has a theory on that but lets skip that for now.) I could not directly relate the nights she would wake up to ANYTHING. And I started writing down and journaling every minute of this kids life trying to come up with a pattern. I kept track of naps, ounces drank, solids eaten, time spent outdoors, time spent active on the floor, temperature of her room, EVERYTHING. Bottom line, there was no pattern. The day she turned 10 months old, she started sleeping through again consistently, like a miracle. She would still sometimes wake a cry out for a minute or two, but had figured out how to lay back down, find a lovey and go back to sleep. I was military in the night when she would wake up about NOT picking her up ( unless he was obviously sick, stinky, etc) I always went in if she cried for longer than five ten minutes. And then I would gentlly pat or sooth til she stopped crying, laid her back down,and then attempted to leave the room. And I did the same thing everytime, trying to reinforce that you are fine, mommy is here, and this is your bed and you are going to stay in it. That was my mantra and it was not easy. I do not know that it worked or made the situation worse, or if I could have done something differently. My Pediatrician told me a lot of waking up at this age is about separation anxiety as well as teething and figuring out how to sleep on their own. Their mouths hurt and they wake up and some kids are better at dealing with the discomfort on their own and some need reassurance that some one is still there for them. Babies are programed to wake up when they need something and that is a good thing. Some kids just figure it out sooner, some kids are terrible sleepers til they are three or beyond. I decided to answer my daughter's cries but stick to keeping her in the crib. It was a very difficult three months. Had she not figured it out and grown out of it when she did, I may have started doing some thing else. But to me using CIO techniques on and older baby ( close to one year) is totally different that on an younger baby who is still figuring out attachment and doesn't understand what is permanent and what is not. Thats my story. Good luck. Try to nap during the day.
I got nothin'. But, in talking with some of my friends with older kids, this does seem normal - especially when they're learning new skills, teething, and all that jazz. i know that doesn't help you at all!! PLLLLEEEASE post about what you read/hear/do. BUT, Isaac is ADORABLE! :)
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