When Baby E arrived, I doubted everyone that told me and warned me about sleep deprivation. I said, I refuse for that to be us and my child will sleep through the night. End. Of. Story.
Well, that's not the end of the story. Not by far. If you remember me posting about 3 weeks ago how Elliott slept through the night for 6 hours, that has since gone away. We had a rough patch where she was waking up and feeding nearly every hour, on the hour, demanding (with this blood curdling cry) that she be fed. She's just like her Mom. My life gave new meaning to the words "Sleep Deprivation." The words had new definitions in my dictionary that were sure to include things such as "you will run into walls when walking," "you will try and breastfeed your husband," "you will stand up and realize that she's not even crying," "you will put a diaper on your dog," and my favorite "you will breakdown, crying and not know what to do at 2:45am."
About week 2 1/2, I started to look for a solution. You may think to yourself - "Really?!? a solution to a crying newborn? This chick is delusional." Yep, a solution. So started my quest to find a fix to not getting ANY sleep. This past Sunday, I think I found one.
No, it's not replacing milk for wine, vodka or spirits.
Elliott and I started a routine. Step 1: wear out Elliott, keep her awake for as much of the day as I can. Step 2: Around her 8 or 9pm feeding, I take her into the bedroom, lay her down (while she is crying....yes, I'm a terrible parent), get ready for bed myself, turn down all the lights so there is just a glimmer coming from the closet and feed her until she could suckle no more. I imagine that God will forgive her for being so gluttonous. I cuddle with her for 30 minutes to make sure she doesn't aspirate and lay her down in her bassinet.
She sleeps for 5 hours straight.
See above paragraph, repeat. Another 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep for the last 4 days...each. From 9pm-2am, 5 glorious hours of glorious, beautiful sleep.
Ahhhh.
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very nice! baby a sleeps from about 9/10pm-1/2am sometimes until 3am... our routine at her 8/9pm feeding is to be in her pjs- dry diaper and her crib is ready for her to sleep in as soon as she is ready after this night time feeding. her sound machine and ceiling projector are ready and waiting for her and she is out like a light- almost every night :) i heart sleep.
ReplyDeleteGood luck! And as a heads up, something you probably have been told or don't want to hear, just when the routine works...she'll decide to change it! So *crossing fingers* hope she just sticks with this one for you, but don't get frustrated if things change. The one thing I learned by having a kid, the only thing you can rely on is change!
ReplyDeletePS love the pics!
Lisa and Nick swear by CSF (not cerebro spinal fluid) C- change diaper, swaddle, feed. It keeps Kinley from waking herself up. Although they are doing formula and a small amount of cereal before bed...to keep her tummy full. Not sure it if it is helpful to you....but she sleeps 7-8 hours I think...so it works for someone :) I'll let you know how it goes in a few months.
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