One of the hardest times when the girls were infants was teaching them how to sleep. I remember coming to the realization that it wasn't working so well anymore to nurse them to sleep or rock them to sleep, and their time in our bed needed to come to an end. I've never been one to love the co-sleeping thing. I realize that it works for other people, but I just don't sleep when a child is in my bed.
I've been at wits end with Jacob over the past week. He's been fussy during the day and incredibly restless in the early part of the morning--4am-7am. So for the past few nights, I've been up at 3:30am and 4:30am working on getting this kid to sleep. Nothing seemed to be working . . . not nursing, not sleeping in our bed, not even the carseat, which he's come to love to sleep in. So last night I decided that it was time to do sleep battle with Jacob.
I've come to realize that his fussiness and irritability in the early morning is because he's not getting enough good sleep on a regular schedule, which is due to his inability to calm himself down or be calmed by me anymore. I'm a huge believer in eating a sleeping on a schedule and that just hasn't happened yet with Jacob.
Just so you know . . . after last night's sleep war the score is Mommy 1, Jacob 0. Yes, I was up at 3:30, but I got him to sleep in his crib, even if it took an hour and a half. I finally figured out what works---swaddling him. How could I not have thought of this before? We quit swaddling him after the first few weeks because he didn't seem to need it, but we're back to it and it worked like a charm. A tight swaddle and a kiki (pacifier to the rest of you) is all he needed and he was asleep in 15 seconds.
Now to work on a good schedule . . . this sleep thing is a hard thing to deal with as a parent, but I am looking forward to when he can put himself to sleep---in the crib!
2 comments:
You are a great mom. Don't ever forget that. I love you.
PS - The Bachelor Pad this week was such a let down!
Brianna had similar sleeping issues (actually down to sleeping in the car seat...it was the only place she'd fall asleep)...Mark would stay up with her until about 1 am, after i went to bed at around 10 pm, when i had gotten matt down. She'd sleep for a little while in her car seat, but then by 4 am she was up. Nothing worked. She'd sleep like a charm at church and everyone would say "what a great baby, does she sleep all the time?" Noooooo. Praise God at 13 weeks she amazingly started sleeping, and she would sleep through the night. That's also the time she discovered her smile, and mommy discovered her smile again, too. Hang in there Laura! Glad the swaddling worked.
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