Don't let this adorable face fool
you, she does not sleep. At least, not at night. Since Avy turned 11 weeks old, her sleep has been out of whack. She wakes up no less than 5 times a night (usually 10)! How have I not gone mad you ask? Good question.
Let's start by discussing her naps. These are pretty consistent. Usually she is "up" around 7 am. This puts her first nap at 8:30am. This one is 30 mins to one hour. We go to the library for storytime or if its a cleaning day I sit her on the floor with some toys or the TV (*gasp* TV??? yes). :) The next nap is around 11 and this one is an hour on average.
Her afternoon nap is around 3pm and then she will take one more around 5:30. After her last afternoon nap, I usually take her on a short walk to get the mail. Around 7:30 pm Avy gets her bath and we commence with the bedtime routine of lotion, jammies, *sometimes a story* and nursing. I always put her in her crib before she actually falls asleep.
I dread the next 12 hours.
I put her in her crib at 8 pm but I usually go back in there every 5 mins until 9 pm. She yells a lot and scooches around her crib on her back. She throws her paci and eats her toys/blankets. She never really cries but after she jams herself into a corner and starts yelling for me, of course I have to go rescue her!
Anyway, she is finally asleep between 9 and 10 pm. She sometimes wakes up at 11:30 and if I am still awake (I usually get a sudden onset of insomnia after she finally falls asleep) I will feed her. This "dreamfeed" is my futile attempt at getting her to sleep longer. She wakes up again between 12:30 and 1am...again at 2:30-3...again at 4. Here's where it gets even more fun. She wakes up about 5 times between 4 and 5:30 yelling for her paci.
I have tried letting her yell herself back to sleep but if I don't go in there she just gets more and more worked up. Besides, it also means I am awake longer. I feed her at 5:30 and if she acts wide awake I bring her to bed with me so I can hopefully snooze a bit longer.
I have tried a few things like pulling her paci out for her. This hasn't helped too much because she will normally spit it out herself but will still wake up yelling for it. I tried putting a dirty shirt of mine in her crib. I have ordered a memory foam mattress pad (like our bed has) so maybe she will be more comfortable.
The only thing I haven't tried is the one thing every book and expert tells me to....crying it out. I don't feel comfortable with this. I think most of my parenting style has come from instincts. There are times I know she is just talking to herself or babbling and I leave her alone in there...but, if she is calling me, I am going. If that means I don't sleep through the night for a while, well so be it. It's more important to me for Avy to know that I am her mom and I am going to be there when she needs me than for us to get more sleep.
I had been battling some serious frustration lately. At first, I would think to myself, "Seriously??!! WHAT in tarnation is WRONG with you child?!". That did nothing other than make me feel terrible mom-guilt so I have adopted a new attitude. I've started going to bed at night reminding myself how lucky I am that God has given her to me. I pray for the women that want nothing more than for a little baby to be waking THEM up a few times a night.
After a week of this attitude adjustment, guess what? It worked. Yeah, I still get up 5-10x but I'm not angry about it. I actually feel fine in the morning and I get plenty done during the day.
So that's where we are with the sleeping now... I will probably throw a huge party when we both sleep through the night though!
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