I now appear to have developed insomnia. I am so tired, and yet find it difficult if not impossible to sleep. Oh the bitter, bitter irony.
Last night little Wiggles slept for 8. hours. straight! Amazing!! (I, however, woke up 3 times during that 8 hours) He cried a lot more during the day, and I've noticed the days he cries more (usually when Daddy's in charge...he let's him cry more) he sleeps better at night. My mom suggests he just needs "the exercise". I have a really hard time listening to him cry though...
We went for a walk today. We were attempting to go to Target to refill his prescription for Zantac...it's a roughly 2 mile walk 1-way. We didn't make it. I was just too tired. So I turned around. Then, when we were one street away from our street, I saw a lady in a power scooter "walking" to two dogs turn the corner right ahead of us. She was taking up the whole sidewalk between her and these dogs and going quite slowly. Wiggles had fallen asleep so I thought I'd take a short detour around by taking the earlier street and then cutting up to our street. I missed the turn. And was basically sleep walking for part of it (and I'm fit enough to care for a baby!?) and it turns out this street loops back around to where we'd turned around in the first place. When I finally realized I was hot, sweaty, and super tired. And Wiggles had woken up and also was hot, sweaty, and hungry. So it was a bit of a misadventure but we both lived through it. I thought the exercise would help me sleep during his midday nap (pretty much the only one he takes) but...once again, he slept better than I did. I managed 1.5 hours to his 3.5. Which is a pretty long nap.
Which is the next thing I'm wondering about. I've been reading some books and getting lots of advice on helping baby's sleep, and a lot of it centers around "scheduling". I'm a fan of a schedule, so I like the idea of working Wiggles into one. Now, the book I've liked most suggests 3 naps during the day for a baby of his age, and then 8 to 10 hours of sleep at night (fingers crossed!). I haven't finished the book, but I can't work out just when these naps should occur. Wiggles' natural schedule goes something like this:
Wake up for the day around 7am, give or take an hour. Then, he's pretty much up until noon, give or take an hour. I might rock him into a 30 minute nap before the midday power nap, but might not. He hasn't ever taken a longer nap in those hours. Around noon, he usually will take a 1 to 3 hour nap and then he's up again until...well, it gets quite variable. He sometimes will sleep around 5ish...sometimes not. He might go to bed around 8:30...or we might not get him down until 11pm. There hasn't been much consistency in the evening yet. I finally decided I had to accept that he wants to get up at 7 and stay awake until his midday nap, and then awake again until...who knows? But then I worry the little guy isn't getting ENOUGH sleep and that's compounding everything else that makes him so fussy. Sigh. The joys of motherhood I suppose. :)
Well, while we were walking I composed a much more coherent and interesting blog post in my head...but can't remember it now for the life of me. I suppose I ought not to blog when so tired, but Mr. Random has Wiggles for the moment and I thought I'd seize the opportunity before going to bed. Hoping to beat the insomnia before it really takes hold!
The granddaddy of all sleep books is Weissbluth's Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child. It contains a lot of good advice surrounded but 8 tons of extraneous detail, so I don't actually recommend trying to read it while you're sleep deprived. :) BUT, the one really useful thing from that book that applies to your situation wrt naps at this age is that babies this age can't handle being awake for more than 2 hours at a time. So theoretically, as soon as Wiggles wakes up, you look at the clock. If he woke at 7am, then plan to start soothing him around 9, so that he theoretically falls asleep somewhere between 9am and 10am for his first nap of the day. For typical length naps and typical length nighttime sleep, this will come out to roughly 3 naps/day.
ReplyDeleteBUT (big but) those are averages. Some kids, particularly with colic, just won't calm down enough to nap that often, and you'll drive yourself nuts trying to make it happen. I might spend a day or two trying to follow the 2-hour rule and see if it works, but you might have a kiddo who won't follow that routine until after he's worked through his colic at the 3-month mark or so.
Hope you're able to get some sleep, too!
Thanks Nicky! That's actually the book I was referring to that I like the best. :) (and I haven't made it through yet) I have indeed tried the every 2 hour deal...and Wiggles just won't have anything for it! The only way I've gotten it to work, and what we're currently doing...is to take him on walks. And let him sleep in his little baby carrier...but he's getting heavy and my back can't take it for too long! So by the time he falls asleep he gets about a half hour nap. Better than nothing right? I think I need an Ergo...:)
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