Best Birthday Present EVER!

My daughter took a TWO HOUR nap yesterday so I got to sleep for an hour and a half in the afternoon!

She sort of took it back last night though when she was up three times... Ugh... I'm back to fully feeling my age after that!

Daylight Savings Time

Daylight Savings Time. The munchkin finds that it is unnecessary. She's choosing not to observe. If one more person says, well that extra hour of sleep this weekend was nice.... ; )

And one more thought on sleeping

For once my comments on sleeping are not just a complaint about night time feedings! (Although she did wake me up twice last night and the second time she didn’t want to go back to sleep. But that is besides the point! As a side note, I know many people are in the “cry it out” camp, but we’re living with my in-laws and my father in law had a big meeting at work today so he really needed a good night’s sleep. It’s one thing if our sleep is disrupted, but my in-laws finished their sleep training 30 something years ago and are inconvenienced enough by us as it is.) Anyway, sorry, we’re not talking about that. I forgot.

My daughter has a new preferred sleep position. She’s become a belly sleeper, but it’s not just that – she sleeps with her knees under her and her butt stuck up in the air. I put her down on her back and she almost immediately rolls to this position. My mother in law has tried moving her, but she just rolls right back (or wakes up mad about being moved!). I can’t understand how this is even vaguely comfortable, but she seems to be in that position almost every time I walk in to check on her. My Mom thinks it looks like she’s ready to crawl away the second she wakes up. I’d more vote that it looks like she was crawling and just thought she’d stop for a second and …zzzzzzz…

Conspiracy Theory

The dog and the baby are clearly in on this! They are working together to make sure I get as little sleep as possible. I'll be sleep deprived and therefore a far weaker target. I'm not exactly sure what their end game is yet... For the dog, I think it's a bid to get more treats. For the baby... well, she's harder to read. Maybe she's just trying to get some bargaining power once the terrible twos hit.

Still trying to figure out sleep… (to Ferberize or not to Ferberize. When to check?)

Things started out really well on the sleep front. Well, not started out. Nothing starts out well – those first 3 weeks are hell on wheels. But very quickly our daughter started sleeping for longer stretches – 8,10,12 hours and even letting us sleep in. We kept joking that it would all come back to haunt us one day. But we figured one day was years from now – like when she was a teenager. We didn’t guess that one day would start during infancy.

I mentioned we’d had some issues at 4 months, but had sort of managed to correct (well, plus or minus…). Well, since the move, things are getting a bit out of hand. I know it’s our “fault” as her schedule and routine got really messed up in the move / the new place, but I’m having such a hard time correcting. The fact of the matter is, it’s clear that she no longer seems to be able to fall asleep on her own. I’ve tried moving her bedtime up, as she gets VERY over tired and can’t seem to settle, but nothing seems to work. Even if I try to nurse her to sleep – unless I hit it exactly right, she wakes up when I put her in the crib and it’s all over…

So we’ve discussed our options and I began my online research. Do I let her cry it out? Do I try Ferber? Do I sit with her while she cries it out (so she’s not nursing, but not alone)? Do I cradle and rock her and possibly nurse her till she moves out of the house? And I discovered what every mother discovers – no one knows! Some people say let them cry it out, as it’s really important for their development. There’s the Ferber method of periodically checking on her – which would be great (I’m not neglecting you. I’m here. I’m just not being manipulated.) except that seeing us come in, but do nothing for her, just freaking pisses her off! Others say that our biological imperative is NOT to let our children cry it out because going back to caveman days, a crying baby would have attracted predators – it would have been neglect and/or harmful to the clan as a whole.

Now I know that EVERYONE has an opinion on this. And most people think their opinion is the only way to do anything. The fact is – I can’t seem to get myself to a final opinion. We’ve tried Ferber the last few nights and last night… well, had odd results. She cried for a long time. After awhile in checking on her, I noticed all the drool and remembered she seemed a little fussy so thought – well maybe she’s teething. I decided to give her some Tylenol. She cried again when I put her down for a little bit, but then she stopped, so I assumed she’d gone to sleep. I waited a little while to make sure she was really asleep and went in – and she wasn’t asleep. Her eyes were open and she just looked at me, but didn’t cry. I rushed back out (trying not to be seen, which I assumed would induce crying – but I think she saw me). Her Dad checked on her when he got home about an hour later – she was awake (or was not deeply asleep and woke up) and saw him too – but no cry.

Have we broken her spirit?

Bedtime!

After several nights of spending an hour and half or two hours in the nursery with an overtired baby who would not go to sleep (two nights ago, I tried setting her in her crib. She cried for more than 10 minutes, so I went back in. An hour later, I tried again and it took a full 20 minutes of wailing before she settled and went to sleep. I know that was best for her as she truly was just overtired, but it was so hard to hear such pitiable sobbing and not go in.), I decided it was time to try something new. In the past (my wondrous 7 months of experience), we generally fed her and she got a bath around 7:30 or 8. If it was on the earlier side (7 or 7:30), she’d sometimes catnap for half an hour or 40 minutes (just enough for us to eat dinner!) and then wake up for another hour or so before going to bed around 9. I had tried putting her down for the night at the catnap, but she really wasn’t ready then and would wake up (fully awake and let’s party). The evening nap seemed to work well for her – it kept her from getting too overtired, but she was still ready for bed.

It occurred to me now, though, that maybe the evening nap was really when she should be going to bed. The last few nights she has been OUT during that nap. She wakes up looking a bit tired and sort of confused and grumpy (I hadn’t noticed immediately as that is much the way that I normally wake up). But then she’s up – yawning and rubbing her eyes and overtired, but unable to go back to sleep.

So last night I decided to just put her down to bed when she got sleepy after her bath (7:30 or so). I figured if she woke up in 45 minutes or an hour, I’d treat it like a night feeding – just got in and nurse her with the lights off and try to put her back down. If she was really fully awake, I’d deal with that (and have another night of the 2 hour bedtime routine), but hopefully that wouldn’t be the case. And, crazy thing – it wasn’t! She actually didn’t wake up for another feeding and slept from 7:30 pm to 7:30 am! I guess the downside (if this is now her bedtime) is no more sleeping in on the weekend for us (we’ve been spoiled with a baby who will sometimes sleep till 9 or even later!), but it does seem a much better schedule for a 7 month old.

I reminded my husband that one night does not a pattern make, but here’s hoping!