Sunday, July 20, 2008

IT FEELS LIKE DEATH!

I've read that when a baby is learning a new skill, like holding her head up or rolling over, her sleep routine would get all out of whack because both her little brain and body are trying really hard to master the skill. Well, in the past couple of weeks, Chase has completely mastered holding her head up, both while being held upright and laying down on her tummy, and is now on the verge of rolling over from her tummy to back, which makes diaper changing that much more challenging. And then there's the 12th week growth spurt. I'm not sure which of these are responsible for my not getting any sleep. For the past couple of weeks, she's gone from sleeping 3-5 hours between nursing to almost EVERY HOUR. We've completely rolled back to the brand new baby days. Often I wake to find her crying because she started to roll over and got stuck. But sometimes she just wants to be cuddled and comfort nurse for a few minutes before falling back to sleep. She's sleeping so poorly at night that she's compensating by napping so much during the day and not eating as much as she should, which only feeds back into a bigger problem at night. I'm all for attachment parenting but right now I'm barely more than a pair of boobs with legs for her. And have I mentioned that I'M NOT GETTING ANY SLEEP? It makes the meaning of a "walking zombie" much more real. All the books seem to agree that sleep training before 4 months would be too early and quite frankly I haven't gotten the energy to even think about it. You moms out there, any suggestions? Please?

3 comments:

  1. Hey Uma! We used the Baby Whisperer book, which was recommended by friends, on both Connor and Kegan. It worked great and both boys typically sleep through the night. Right now I wake at least twice through the night due to Connor sprouting molars and Kegan's crazy growth spurt. But it's only for a short time! Rest is just around the corner! We love you guys! Hang in there, you guys are great parents!
    -Manda, Drew, Connor and Kegan

    ReplyDelete
  2. If it's any encouragement to you...Jack just finished that exact routine and I felt like...well you know how it feels! I think that we are through with it, in the last few days he's slept better, and I'm getting better at letting him cry and put himself back to sleep...works sometimes. Also, we tried the rice cereal last night and he slept from 9:30pm to 3:00am, and then just had a 'comfort nurse' and was back asleep until 5:30. There is a light at the end of your very tired tunnel!

    ReplyDelete
  3. You'll probably have to remind us of this in the Spring! I really like the boobs with a pair of legs comment. :)

    ReplyDelete