My baby is a pretty big boy, 17 1/2 pounds at his last weighing which was a month ago. And since he's 6 months old and more than heavy enough, why isnt he sleeping through the night? Cuz this mama is getting pretty tired and is kinda over the whole co-sleeping deal. Don't get me wrong, I love having that warm little body next to me, and waking up to his smiles and giggles and giving him tired kisses all over his face the second I wake up...but it all comes at a price. Like, every morning I am shoved to the edge of our bed because though he starts out in the middle, throughout the night he snuggles closer and closer like he's trying to get inside my skin and live there. So, and mind you this is in my deep sleep, I shove over to give him room. I'm shocked I haven't ended up on the floor yet.
Oh and another by-product of this co-sleeping business? My own husband is stuck on the couch because he doesn't get a proper night sleep since he's hyper aware of every move Nicky makes. This is very sad to me, and even though he might not be getting lucky every night, dammit I want to be able to sleep next to him.
So I have been trying my best to sleep train for the past 2 weeks and let me tell you...it's not working out very well. I can't let the poor baby "cry it out" in the traditional sense, but I have been scheduling his naps and going in every few minutes to pat his back, shush him, etc. Still after 2 weeks, it's taking an average of 30 minutes for him to fall asleep. Ummm okay, it may have taken a while for it to sink through but I think I've realised that this method isn't going to work. Back to the drawing board.
And then today, as I was passing Nicky in his excersaucer on my way about the house, I got the "look" from him. The "hey mom, bring those boobs over here I'm kinda bored and I think I might want to eat for 30 seconds and then fall asleep for 30 minutes and drive you insane" look. And me, like a dumb milk cow, start walking over to him whilst hiking up my shirt. And then I stop. This is the mental breakthrough part. It occurs to me that maybe I shouldn't feed him right at that moment because, hey, he just ate 2 hours before. And it was a big meal too, AND he had just had his lunch a half hour before that. So he's probably not really hungry yet.
This, in turn, got me thinking that maybe the reason he's not sleeping through the nights or having good naps durning the days is because I'm trying to mix 2 different parenting styles together. I demand feed, but I'm trying to schedule his naps. Hey, it worked for Liam so I never gave it much thought when it came to Nicky. I'm thinking maybe this little one needs a bit more structure.
So, I'm going to stop the demand feeding. And I'm going to milk-smother him in the evenings in an effort to put him into a milk induced coma that he hopefully won't come out of until about 7 a.m. Heck, it's worth a shot. Being able to sleep a whole 8 hours straight for the first time in....I don't know how long....will be SO worth it!
Rock on.
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3 comments:
Good luck! It is so hard. My husband has been giving Ari a bottle of pumped milk before bed for a couple of weeks and I am not sure why but that has gotten us hours more sleep. Along with a touch of sleep training. Who knows though, they are all a big mystery.
Good luck! We're going through the same thing. It's us against them, you know, and we are bigger, smarter, stronger and faster. At least that's how it works in theory...
Thinking more on it, I think the main hurdle will be overcome when he can finally get into his own crib at night. Then he won't have a boob right there to shimmy up to, and lord knows it'll take me at least a few minutes to wake up and get to him when he's crying...I'm a pretty deep sleeper.
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