(Read the below post first so this will make sense.)
Is there such a thing as night colic? Braewyn may have invented it. So tonight (yes, it's 6:08am and I'm blogging), Philip was in bed at 9:30pm and Braewyn in her crib at 10:05pm. Maybe they are overly tired by going to bed too late; one of those nights, we went to dinner with my parents while Matthew had a softball game and then we met him at the grocery store to return home at 8:45pm.
I'm in bed at 11:45pm after blogging the below post (yes, I know I'm not getting enough rest myself). At 1:49am, I wake up to Braewyn talking/crying in her crib. We let her go for 15 minutes and she's up to pretty hard crying. I go in with the pacifier. No luck. Mylicon gas drops and then the pacifier. No luck. I pick her up and walk her around the livingroom. While Philip was an infant, I never really got the whole idea behind some people up all night walking the floors with their babies. The idea is now making sense. As long as I was bouncing her and walking, Braewyn would settle down. I even tried to sit in our rocking chair and she began crying again. After more walking, I then tried to feed her. She ate a little and seemed to calm down. Praise the Lord, I finally laid her back in the crib with pacifier and she seemed to be sleeping! Back to bed for me around 2:30am.
Flash forward to 5:08am. More crying from Braewyn. Again wait 10 minutes but she gets louder. I get up to rescue Philip by removing his crying sister from their room. He doesn't seem to hear her. Back in the livingroom for more walking. I also change her diaper and switch her to a lighter weight sleep sack (maybe she was hot). Try to feed her but she's really not interested this time. Finally into the office in her bassinet she goes. I go back to bed to hear faint screaming for 10 more minutes and I had even left the bassinet on vibrate.
Now I'm in the office myself (obviously) and Braewyn finally seems to be asleep. I turned the bassinet's vibrator back on and gave her the pacifier. She got quiet and will possibly sleep for another hour. I've got to get a nap today as we are having our final MOPS steering team retreat/planning session for the upcoming year this evening from 6pm until midnight.
Hope you have a great day. And I'm still interested in any and all tips, suggestions, words of sympathy you might have.
3 comments:
well, since this is only the first week of Braewyn sleeping in a new place, it might just take time for her to get used to it. Or, maybe you are right about her still needing a feeding in the middle of the night.
Now you see why Jayce and Jaina couldn't share a room! Jaina slept great as a baby (and no, we never let her CIO, she just naturally did it). Jayce *still* wakes up in the middle of the night no matter what we do. Now we see that his nightwaking is very typical of kids with sensory issues. (Not that this is Braewyn's case).
Anyway, my advice to you is to keep trying to discover WHY she is having trouble sleeping. There is always a hidden cause for nightwaking. Crying it out (or CIO) is only teaching her that you do not respond to her cries and that its worthless for her to call out for you when she is in need. If you respond to her needs during the day, why would it be any different at night?
Overtiredness may in deed play a part in her sleeping habits. Keep a sleep log and compare it to other babies her age to see if she's getting enough sleep.
Also, don't forget, that "Sleeping through the night", by medical definition means "FIVE consecutive hours", not anything more. Most babies under 1 year old (especially nursing babies) will not sleep longer than that without eating.
Good luck and I'm here for you! You are a wonderful mom!
Kim, your story sounds so similar to ours. Drew began sleeping through the night at 3 weeks old. I was a "rocker" mom though - I rocked him to sleep every night until he was a good 2 years old. I didn't breastfeed though and this was our time. I would read, sing lullabyes, etc. I was always afraid that I would regret it later if I didn't rock my children to sleep. I remember my mom rocking me in the big wooden rocking chair in my room (my issue really, not theirs). Anyway, I loved rocking both my children to sleep, and neither seemed to have a problem adjusting to going to bed on their own when it was time. Okay, back to my story about Drew... once he was asleep we knew he was pretty much asleep until morning. Mikayla was completely different - and I like you thought "I'm doing the same thing here that I did with Drew". We have to remember that all children are different and will do things at different times. Mikayla didn't begin sleeping through the night until she was 6 weeks old. It was also more difficult to get her to sleep (I rocked longer). We continued to see Mikayla as our little "night owl" until 2 weeks ago when she started 4k. She doesn't get a nap anymore so sometimes she's out at 5:30. I believe this too shall pass, and she will be staying up a little later each night. All I can say is stay with it, both Braewyn and Philip will be just fine! You are a terrific mom!! BTW Drew and Mikayla couldn't share a room because of this same situation - Drew going to sleep right away, and Mikayla taking a lil' longer.
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