It is a precious commodity these days - very hard to come by.
Saturday night she slept until 3:30 am in her crib, woke up to nurse, then back to sleep until 7:30 (and we made it to 8am mass, where she was an absolute angel.) I thought maybe she was turning a corner.
Last night however.... She was up at least every two hours. After the first few times I got up, I put her in bed with me. That did not help. She tossed and turned, cried, nursed for a few seconds, fussed, turned sideways and kicked me all night. AAAHHHH!
I'm going to try to increase her solid food as she seems to be pretty hungry. (The kid is a good eater. Surprisingly, she LOVES peas and zucchini. Go figure.) A friend suggested trying some formula during the day. I don't mind nursing during the DAY... 10 times at night is wearing me a little thin. Especially because we both have to be up, ready, and at work at 8am.
Any suggestions? Is it ok to let her cry for just a few minutes? I put her in the pack and play for her nap after lunch, she cried for less than 5 minutes, and she's been sleeping for 1 hour and 45 minutes so far (that is UNHEARD OF.) Should I let her cry herself back to sleep at night when I know she is not hungry? I would like for her to stay in her crib all night so I wouldn't wake up in the morning exhausted and aching from head to toe from all the squirming, kicking, fussing, and moving her back to her side of the bed 100 times. I know she is capable of only waking up once in the night, which would be fine with me, as she's done it lots of times. (Just not lately and not consistently.)
She is such an angel except for this ONE THING. I guess nobody is perfect....
8 comments:
I went the wimpy way and sent you an email with my thoughts...
:o)
Are you still producing enough? I would ask your pediatrician for recommendations. One caution with giving formula is that my nephew took a bottle for a few days when my sister-in-law had her gall bladder out and he wouldn't go back to the breast, he is too impatient for that now. He still gets breast milk most of the time, but through the bottle.
I strongly feel that first and foremost, a child needs sane parents. Not parents who are exhausted, cranky, aching and emotional, which is, let's face it, how we ALL get when we're sleep-deprived. It's a natural response. You can survive for weeks without food.
No sleep for 24 hours can induce hallucinations, no sleep for 72 hours can kill a person.
(I'm aware you're not up for that length of time - I'm just mentioning how serious sleep-deprivation is.)
At some point, a child needs to learn how to self-soothe.
She needs to learn to rely on herself and to learn self-awareness. ("Hey! Mom's not in here but I'm still having fun with my feet!")
I'm not saying to leave her alone for an hour, but if you have a monitor and can stand it, a few minutes wouldn't hurt.
I'm not an expert and I know many people will strongly disagree, but you MUST start getting some rest. It's too much.
[Ducks the angry flames.]
I'm betting she's teething, if this night waking is out of the ordinary. I remember taking turns with Bill during the night, walking a crying baby around and around and around until he fell asleep. He was usually a good sleeper (with us), but when he was teething early on, nothing helped him get back to sleep but walking. We didn't let him cry, partly because we lived in a one-bedroom apartment at the time, but mostly because that's not our parenting style. Each spurt didn't last long, and we were sleeping more soon.
I won't wax on about what I think you should do, because ultimately, it's up to you to do what works best for your family. (For example, I could nap with Isaac during the day if I was up at night, but that's not an option for you, so you might choose a different route.) You'll pass this stage soon. And then you'll have a tooth (I'm guessing!).
Try freezing a wet washcloth and letting her chew on it. We did that during our night walkings, not knowing for sure if it was teething or not, but he always liked it.
And Isaac loved veggies, too. Even after he was over a year, he'd eat frozen peas on the way to church. Weird snack. Weird kid. But I was pleased!
This might be unpopular, but here goes! Ha!
Do you ALWAYS go to her immediately when she cries? If so, she might be learning that crying = mom comes and I get food. I should do this more often!
Since she is capable of sleeping through the night, it's most likely not that she's hungry. Now if she's sleeping like 10 hours, then waking up for an early morning snack and going back to sleep, that could be hungry. Every 2 hours? Not hungry.
I would try letting her cry a bit and just see how she does. They say some kids release tension by crying and NEED to cry to get themselves settled to sleep. Others just get worked up. You won't know which she is until you try :-) At some point she will learn to self-sooth. It's up to you how much you want to help her learn. Sleep is important for BOTH of you! And if she isn't sleeping well through the night, she isn't napping well, and that just leads to a vicious cycle.
Increasing solids worked for us. And we put a little Baby Orajel on them at night if they were crying and we thought that they were teething.
One thing that you might try is a crib toy that makes soothing music or sounds and lights. Whenver they were fussy instead of picking them up and nursing (especially if I knew they weren't hungry) I would turn on the music and pat them on the back. We got one for James and he learned to turn it on and off. Soon whenever he woke during the night we would hear him hit the button and the music would pop on and he would lay there watching the lights and music until he fell asleep again.
You can certainly wait a few minutes to see if she can calm herself. Crying for a few minutes will not cause her harm. If she doesn't seem to settle though, you need to have a plan for what to do next. You will get lots of suggestions for this, but only you and Ken know what will work for your family. Good luck! They really do sleep eventually. :)
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