Since a few days after he was born, Oliver has been a champion sleeper. At night anyway. During the day? Not so much. He’s pretty much a cat-napper. But I never had an issue with that because he was happy during the day and slept great all night. I found myself wondering why so many people complained about losing sleep with a newborn. I certainly didn’t feel like I was sleep deprived.
Within a week of his birth, Oliver would regularly sleep 5-6 hour stretches at night, wake up to feed (which he mostly slept through) and then go back down for another 4-5 hours. Giving us 10-12 consecutive hours in bed with a maximum of 2, 30-minute, barely awake feeds. I seriously think my quality of sleep improved from pregnancy to mama hood. By about 4 months old he was sleeping from 9:30-6, eat, and then go back to sleep for another two to three hours. It was fabulous. I know, I know, all you mamas with babies who like to get up and play for two hours in the middle of the night hate me. Trust me, I don’t envy you.
The past month or so, our sleep schedule has gone drastically down hill. It’s just been one thing after another. Oliver out grew his swaddle wrap and now he flails about and wakes himself up; then there was the teething; then traveling; and so on. Lately he’s up 2-3 times a night, and I’m lucky if he goes till 3am before his first feed, most nights it‘s closer to 2. He was sleeping later than that the week he was born! He still goes straight back down after he eats, but he’s up again two or three hours later, and then sometimes even a third time before he’s ready to really get up. Last night, he went down at nine and then was up at 12:30, at 2, at 5, and at 7:30. He didn’t get up “for real” till almost 9am. He just woke, fussed till I put him on the breast, ate for ten minutes or so, and then fell back asleep. We’re still getting 10-11 hours in the bed every night, so maybe I shouldn’t complain.
Here’s the thing: he still sleeps in the bassinet next to our bed, and usually by 6 am or so has migrated into the bed with us. Sometimes I fall asleep nursing him during that first feed, but even though I thought I wanted to co-sleep before he was born, I have discovered that my quality of sleep is far better is he stays in his own bed most of the night. The child kicks and squirms and every movement has me waking. Right now, if I fall asleep during that first feed, it is usually not for more than ten minutes and I can just lay him back in bed when I wake back up.
But all that will change when we get back home next week. The first thing on our to do list is getting his crib built and putting it on the other side of the room. Now that he is pulling up, it is only a matter of time before he manages to flip himself over the low walls of his bassinet. He’s outgrowing the tiny thing anyway.
I do not look forward to him being all the way on the other side of the room. It means I will have to actually wake myself up enough to go pull him out of bed, carry him back to our bed, nurse him, and then go lay him back down. Three times a night. This mama is entirely too lazy for that nonsense. It would be really great if he could get his schedule back to normal before we make the bed switch. Then again, it’s been so long, I wonder if maybe this is normal from here on out. Maybe we were just blessed the first few months.
I’ve tried everything I can think of to get him to sleep longer. We make sure it’s not too cold in the bedroom. We keep a fan on for ambient noise. I throw a blanket over him for weight. I’ve tried to get him to sleep on his front so that maybe he won’t flail around as much, but he wakes as soon as I put him down if he’s not on his back. I thought (and still think) maybe he just isn’t getting enough milk to last him 8 hours anymore, so we’ve started introducing solid foods, but he won’t eat enough that it seems to make any difference. He’s really interested, he just seems to get bored after the first few bites. I am at my wit’s end. I welcome any and all advice.
Within a week of his birth, Oliver would regularly sleep 5-6 hour stretches at night, wake up to feed (which he mostly slept through) and then go back down for another 4-5 hours. Giving us 10-12 consecutive hours in bed with a maximum of 2, 30-minute, barely awake feeds. I seriously think my quality of sleep improved from pregnancy to mama hood. By about 4 months old he was sleeping from 9:30-6, eat, and then go back to sleep for another two to three hours. It was fabulous. I know, I know, all you mamas with babies who like to get up and play for two hours in the middle of the night hate me. Trust me, I don’t envy you.
The past month or so, our sleep schedule has gone drastically down hill. It’s just been one thing after another. Oliver out grew his swaddle wrap and now he flails about and wakes himself up; then there was the teething; then traveling; and so on. Lately he’s up 2-3 times a night, and I’m lucky if he goes till 3am before his first feed, most nights it‘s closer to 2. He was sleeping later than that the week he was born! He still goes straight back down after he eats, but he’s up again two or three hours later, and then sometimes even a third time before he’s ready to really get up. Last night, he went down at nine and then was up at 12:30, at 2, at 5, and at 7:30. He didn’t get up “for real” till almost 9am. He just woke, fussed till I put him on the breast, ate for ten minutes or so, and then fell back asleep. We’re still getting 10-11 hours in the bed every night, so maybe I shouldn’t complain.
Here’s the thing: he still sleeps in the bassinet next to our bed, and usually by 6 am or so has migrated into the bed with us. Sometimes I fall asleep nursing him during that first feed, but even though I thought I wanted to co-sleep before he was born, I have discovered that my quality of sleep is far better is he stays in his own bed most of the night. The child kicks and squirms and every movement has me waking. Right now, if I fall asleep during that first feed, it is usually not for more than ten minutes and I can just lay him back in bed when I wake back up.
But all that will change when we get back home next week. The first thing on our to do list is getting his crib built and putting it on the other side of the room. Now that he is pulling up, it is only a matter of time before he manages to flip himself over the low walls of his bassinet. He’s outgrowing the tiny thing anyway.
I do not look forward to him being all the way on the other side of the room. It means I will have to actually wake myself up enough to go pull him out of bed, carry him back to our bed, nurse him, and then go lay him back down. Three times a night. This mama is entirely too lazy for that nonsense. It would be really great if he could get his schedule back to normal before we make the bed switch. Then again, it’s been so long, I wonder if maybe this is normal from here on out. Maybe we were just blessed the first few months.
I’ve tried everything I can think of to get him to sleep longer. We make sure it’s not too cold in the bedroom. We keep a fan on for ambient noise. I throw a blanket over him for weight. I’ve tried to get him to sleep on his front so that maybe he won’t flail around as much, but he wakes as soon as I put him down if he’s not on his back. I thought (and still think) maybe he just isn’t getting enough milk to last him 8 hours anymore, so we’ve started introducing solid foods, but he won’t eat enough that it seems to make any difference. He’s really interested, he just seems to get bored after the first few bites. I am at my wit’s end. I welcome any and all advice.
For what it's worth (and I realize it's not much), I've read to think of sleeping as a series of movements on a general trajectory toward the whole night sleeping thing. He's about the right age to expect "regressions." Which, again, doesn't help in terms of actual sleep or anything, but sometimes knowing it's not a derail but just a typical blip might make you less insane about it?
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