Monday, October 27, 2008

Sleep Evades Us Once Again

So, for awhile, the sleep situation got better. For a week straight, we had a great routine of 10 PM bedtime, 2 AM feed, then 6 AM wakeup. It was heaven to get four hours of consecutive sleep.

When we went to my parents, he even did at 10 - 4 stretch. I wanted to do a victory lap around the neighborhood when I realized that he had technically "slept through the night" (although who defines a night as six hours, I want to know!).

But he has been back to his old habits again these past few days. First off, he was always asleep by 10. And last week, he started falling asleep by 7 PM. Now, he is fighting bedtime and didn't go to sleep until after 11 last night.

Then, he was up at 2, 5, and 7. That's a lot of waking up for a nearly 10 week old baby. And a twelve pounder at that!

I also haven't noticed any real organization to his daytime sleep. I keep hoping for the change that most moms seem to notice around the 3 month time frame, where sleep patterns tend to even out.

He has seemed to locate one important sleep tool this past week - his right hand! He loves to stick his hand in and slobber all over it. It is the cutest thing!

7 comments:

AwkwardMoments said...

praying for sleep for you and wil!

HereWeGoAJen said...

Well, he's still practicing this real life thing. I'm sure he'll get it down soon.

Elle Charlie said...

Glad he found that hand!

Amy said...

Stop reading dude!! The 3 months and the sleep patterns will even out is BS.....that's a general statement! I totally get your yearning for some structure and routine, but he is still too small, 12lber or not! YOu are doing a kick ass job and just wait, before you know it the routine will click in...promise!! Just don't put timelines on it or you will drive yourself batty!! keep up the good work! And put those books down! At least a few of em! ;)

Mrs. Piggy said...

If there's one thing I've learned, its that babies change daily and to never do victory laps when they've taken a good nap or slept through the night. I have done many victory laps, embarassingly so....My babies are now almost 5 months and still not STTN...But 4 hours in a row is a blessing, thats for sure! And now E is waking up at 3 to eat, and then when she goes back to bed, she sings /talks for 45 min, then starts to cry til she's consoled. I cant CIO because then O wakes up. Babies are complicated. I cant outsmart them...hopefully when they are toddlers I can!

Anonymous said...

i too have done victory laps only to be sadly disappointed a few nights later when he "regressed." but i've come to realize something - we all expect babies to get better and better at sleeping in a straight, linear fashion. but they are people, like us, who sometimes sleep well, and other times dont. some babies sttn with no problems, and others dont. there is just so much variation from baby to baby and from night to night that i stopped listening to the books. i think that's when i just accepted that he may have good nights and bad nights, and i never get upset or frustrated for the bad nights because i've come to accept that it will happen. all i can do is encourage his good sleeping habits with a predictable night time routine and stretch out his feedings as much as possible.

good luck and i really hope that you are one of the lucky ones that have a great sleeper!

Anonymous said...

All the talk about sleeping through the night among new parents is enough to stress anyone out whose baby is not sleeping through the night early on. But hang in there. My son was 20 pounds at 2 months, and did he sleep through the night? Nope, not until 8 months, and I was rigid and did not feed on demand. He just took a little longer to learn that skill than some others. His daytime sleep did even out around 16 weeks, and around 8 weeks he was consistantly passed out by 8 pm if not before. Good luck, and I know it gets old to hear, but enjoy it, before you know it they will be on a schedule and it frees you up, but also limits you. At least now he's on your schedule, and not the other way around:)