Sunday, March 27, 2011

Sleeping Troubles :(

I'm beginning to wonder if we will ever get sleep again in this house... Abi was a harder baby in that she screamed for 4 months and never took more than a 45 min nap till she was 1 1/2, but tough times seem to be dragging on this time. The best thing the first time around was that Abi slept through the night at 8 weeks and never stopped so we were at least getting good rest at night. At just about 4 months Daniel was finally able to make it through the night without having to get up and eat at 4am, but he doesn't "sleep through the night." We are up with him anywhere from 3-7x's a night putting the Nuk back in and trying to get him comfortable to fall back to sleep. Often he still wakes up at for an hour or so at a time around 3am. What is that all about??? I finally had a thought a couple weeks ago - he was sleeping absolutely wonderfully during the day. He was taking 2-3 naps and his afternoon nap was 3-4 hours long. So I thought that maybe he was sleeping too much during the day and that was why he was up so early in the morning thinking he was done sleeping.... Having this genius thought I started waking him up from his naps so he would take just a 2hr nap in the morning and a 2hr nap in the afternoon and a 45min evening nap - but they say "never wake a sleeping baby!" What am I doing??? Seemed to work for a couple weeks in that he wasn't thinking he had to stay awake so early in the am (though still up several x's at night.) Now - we've just gotten to the point where he is still up multiple x's at night and will only sleep 45 min at a time during the day - he hasn't had a good nap in days... I don't even know what to do anymore. We have another issue - its a bundling issue... The only way to get him to sleep is to still bundle him. BUT - you have to leave one arm out so he doesn't freak out, lay him on his right side with a soft blanket by his face and a pillow behind his back so he doesn't roll over. He's teething so he wakes up and sticks his hands in his mouth and takes the Nuk out and then can't sleep. He's strong - the second he's at all awake he's all tangled in blankets and completely unwrapped... Tried leaving him unwrapped and he just plays and cries because he can't get to sleep that way... I feel as though I have no idea what I'm doing. We've been trying solid food. Little Man thinks that he's starving to death at his very tiny 17lbs 4oz, and can drink 8-9 oz of formula at a time. He's the same size at 4 months that Abi was at 6 months and drinks as much as a one year old. He has NO desire for solids though. I've been trying for almost a month now and it just ends with him crying and me frustrated. I finally thought that if he didn't like cereal, then maybe he'd like it better with fruit in it. He likes it but has no clue that he has to open his mouth to get it in and then thinks it isn't fast enough. So far I haven't been able to get more than a couple bite in before breakdown. I'm frustrated - but I love my son. I'm struggling, he's struggling - we all are... He started teething in earnest and is proving to be much more tough on him than it was on Abi. He's obviously in pain often and it makes me sad. Nothing seems to help it much either. Sadly I don't think any teeth are close to coming in - I can't see anything yet. I'm partly sad because after a few rough months in the beginning he had turned into a really happy little guy with a great personality... Teething has made him pretty miserable and the happy times have been fewer and farther between. I hope that once he gets a couple teeth in he will get a break to be happy again. Its been a rough couple days and I need an attitude adjustment... I've reached the point in sleep deprivation where I have had a headache everyday for a couple weeks, I feel like I'm in a constant fog, and I can hardly keep my eyes open during the day. I feel like things would be easier If I could just get ONE full night of sleep. Eight hours of uninterrupted sleep seems like a dream straight from Heaven... ...and a complete impossibility. I'll keep hoping and praying...

1 comment:

thecolonelswife said...

(((hugs))) well you could fly out here and leave the kids with me for a few days :) Really wish I could though...I KNOW how it feels.

Seriously, i get better sleep than i did, but not sure i'll ever "sleep through the night" again.