Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Oh Sleep Where Have You Gone?



And more importantly will you ever come back? This whole lack of sleep--waking up in the middle of the night is really starting to takes its toll. I want Minnow to sleep all night. For the past week or so he would wake up and I would give him only water--trying to wean him from his middle of the night feedings--and he would take some and go back to sleep. Well the past 2 nights he has been up at 1:30 and I give him water and he cries for the next 2 hours. At first, I didn't know what was going on. I thought maybe it was his teeth, but the ones on the horizon have all popped through. I finally--because hubby and I were going in sane--gave him a bottle and then he wanted to play and laugh and talk, etc. Finally he decided sleep was good at about 4:15 am. Then he wakes at about 7 and once he is held goes back to sleep for another hour or so. Again, this. is. not. something. they. tell. you.

I am at my wits end. I know that there are kids who don't sleep through the night until they are 18 months--heaven forbid Minnow be one of those. I don't worry that he is not getting enough sleep as he isn't a crabby kid, he plays and is very active all day. He takes 2 naps--both about 90 minutes each. I feed him often and he has about 4 bottles during the day (6-8 oz each) and that is all I can get him to drink.

Any tips? I miss sleep. Maybe he is gowing through a growth spirt. I would like to hear from those of you who fed your babies at night and those who weaned them. What are the pros and cons of each? I don't want Minnow to think that night time is when we eat. I want him to understand that night time is for sleeping? I need night time to be for sleeping.

3 comments:

Karianne said...

This really doesn't answer your questions but one thing that helped us was assigning nights for each one of us to get up with the baby. When Chris went back to work, he would take the weekends and I would take the week. That way you both can have some full nights of rest and also you know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel on really bad nights. You think so clearly when you are rested. Good luck! I'd like to be more help, but both of our kids sleep like crap.

Ginger said...

Not much advice to offer here either, only wanted to say that you are not alone. Alijah has always awakened multiple times a night to either eat or get a little comfort. If we weren't co-sleeping, I think I'd be a zombie. I've just accepted the fact that it is what it is and it won't last forever.

Bek said...

My kids are all sleepers (but I am kind of a hard core sleep training mom..) BUT, the times that they did this (and my middle child is cuurently doing this at age two--he is up from 4:00 am to 6:00 am every night...) it was right before a growth spurt or when they were teething. Usually a few days after the sleepless night a tooth would pop up (he is about that age, too...).

I am not sure how you feel about drugs, but childrens motrin made a HUGE difference.

Good Luck, that is a hard one...