oh sleep...where have you gone?
Fatigue has set in, big time. OK, it set in awhile ago but we had been running on "the new baby high" and realized that somewhere around a month it wore off. I remember thinking that I probably wouldn't have that tough of a time running on little to no sleep when I had a baby, mainly because my job has been preparing me for this for the last 4 years. I can remember going over 48 hours without sleep because of a donor run in school, or maybe 36 hours without some shut eye because of an ECMO patient. I typically could deal pretty well with it, nothing a couple Tylenol and a cup of coffee couldn't cure. Up until this point, I think I have done pretty well.....until the last couple weeks! We have had a couple of tough weeks with Griffin, he basically has been refusing sleep. Sleep in any form: the car seat, the swing, my arms, the crib, his napper, and even his co sleeper. He has been waking every 2 hours to eat at night, then refusing to nap during the day. This makes for a VERY cranky baby! I have been exhausted trying to keep up with it all. I hit my breaking point a couple days ago, I just finally realized that I haven't slept a full 8 hours of sleep for over a year. Something had to change!
While I was pregnant, even from the very beginning, I had a terrible time sleeping. I would get up a couple times a night either to use the bathroom or because my back hurt or I was uncomfortable. People, especially in my last couple months would always say, "get sleep now, because when the baby comes you won't get any for a long time". I HATED when people would say that because I literally hadn't slept my entire pregnancy, and that comment would always make me so frustrated! The worst part? They were right. Unless you are one of the really lucky ones, with a baby who sleeps through the night very early on, you will not know how it feels to be well rested for a LONG time! But, I will say (and most of you parents could probably agree) that you just adjust to the new "normal". It doesn't mean that you won't have your moments or bad days, but I know that it's going to get better. I just need to lower my expectations and give Griffin some more time.
Although Griffin has been waking every two hours, at his age he should be sleeping longer stretches. His tummy and brain are capable of this now, so I went in search of some advice. I literally read every book/article/blog/tip I could get my hands on to try and "solve" our sleep problems. Which, I would recommend just for the sake of some education, but really any of the books that talk about sleep training or putting your baby on a rigid schedule are not ideal for me or Griffin. I tried to just take some basic principals from each and loosely apply them to our day. Since he was about 2 weeks old, we have done the same nighttime routine with him. Around 7:30 we give him a bath, baby massage, pj's, nurse, then cuddle and rock to sleep. When he was younger his bedtime was later, but he has set his own bedtime to be earlier and earlier. By 7:00 he is tired and needs to go to bed and lets us know! This seems to work well, because he always falls asleep great, its the staying asleep that seems to be the issue! Many of the sleep experts say that consistency is key, to keep the same routine every night, which we have been doing. Hopefully this will pay off! The other main tip I learned is to try and get him to nap about every 2 hours or so during the day. His little brain needs some down time to process everything, and if he doesn't nap he gets wired and miserable. I try to catch him when I notice that his is drowsy and just starts to get fussy. I take him up to the nursery and we rock in the chair with his pacifier, read a book and just relax. He usually falls asleep on his own and goes down for a 30 minute to 2 hour nap. BUT, I have found that if he doesn't sleep at night, he won't sleep during the day. The biggest and most helpful tip I have learned in the last two weeks is that "sleep promotes sleep". It is counter intuitive to me, I would think that if the kiddo hasn't slept all night, surely he would nap during the day! I mean he is exhausted right? Wrong. Every single book I read said the same thing, which is funny because many of the tips and proclamations in these books were opposites of each other. However, the sleep promoting sleep theory was consistent with every doctor.
OK, so he needs to sleep at night. Glad I read every book I could get my hands on to find out the one thing that I already knew! Well, at least it shed some light on my fussy baby! He just needed to sleep better at night. Better nights = better days. I am on a mission now to figure out how to get him to sleep better at night. First thing I did was unlatch his co sleeper from our bed. He will wiggle and roll to get as close to me as possible at night, I think he can smell his mom and wants to snuggle. As super cute and sweet as that is, it's preventing him from going into a deep sleep. I moved his co sleeper to the wall, away from me and put him to sleep in that Tuesday night. He only stayed asleep for about an hour then he woke up. Sean moved him to his swing that is in our room and turned it on to lull him back to sleep. After about 20 minutes, I turned it off and let him stay in his swing. Guess what? He didn't wake up until 4:30 am! He slept a solid 7 hours!!!!! When he woke, I nursed him and put him back in his swing. He slept until 7 am! WHAT? We had a great day yesterday, he napped easily and was very social and happy. Last night, I decided to just start him sleeping in his swing. He was fast asleep, so Sean and I went downstairs to watch some TV and relax. I said to Sean, "What if last night wasn't a fluke, what if Griff will stay asleep tonight too?". He looked at me and started to laugh, then I did too. It was a full on giggle fit! Yeah right, we both thought! He did wake up about and hour later, but after some rocking went right back to sleep and guess what...he didn't wake up again until 4 am!!! OH MY GOD! Could we be on to something? So two nights of only waking up once has put a huge smile on my face. I hope this lasts, it may not, but if it does I will then have to figure out how to get him to sleep in his crib. For now, I am just enjoying getting some more sleep!
While I was pregnant, even from the very beginning, I had a terrible time sleeping. I would get up a couple times a night either to use the bathroom or because my back hurt or I was uncomfortable. People, especially in my last couple months would always say, "get sleep now, because when the baby comes you won't get any for a long time". I HATED when people would say that because I literally hadn't slept my entire pregnancy, and that comment would always make me so frustrated! The worst part? They were right. Unless you are one of the really lucky ones, with a baby who sleeps through the night very early on, you will not know how it feels to be well rested for a LONG time! But, I will say (and most of you parents could probably agree) that you just adjust to the new "normal". It doesn't mean that you won't have your moments or bad days, but I know that it's going to get better. I just need to lower my expectations and give Griffin some more time.
Although Griffin has been waking every two hours, at his age he should be sleeping longer stretches. His tummy and brain are capable of this now, so I went in search of some advice. I literally read every book/article/blog/tip I could get my hands on to try and "solve" our sleep problems. Which, I would recommend just for the sake of some education, but really any of the books that talk about sleep training or putting your baby on a rigid schedule are not ideal for me or Griffin. I tried to just take some basic principals from each and loosely apply them to our day. Since he was about 2 weeks old, we have done the same nighttime routine with him. Around 7:30 we give him a bath, baby massage, pj's, nurse, then cuddle and rock to sleep. When he was younger his bedtime was later, but he has set his own bedtime to be earlier and earlier. By 7:00 he is tired and needs to go to bed and lets us know! This seems to work well, because he always falls asleep great, its the staying asleep that seems to be the issue! Many of the sleep experts say that consistency is key, to keep the same routine every night, which we have been doing. Hopefully this will pay off! The other main tip I learned is to try and get him to nap about every 2 hours or so during the day. His little brain needs some down time to process everything, and if he doesn't nap he gets wired and miserable. I try to catch him when I notice that his is drowsy and just starts to get fussy. I take him up to the nursery and we rock in the chair with his pacifier, read a book and just relax. He usually falls asleep on his own and goes down for a 30 minute to 2 hour nap. BUT, I have found that if he doesn't sleep at night, he won't sleep during the day. The biggest and most helpful tip I have learned in the last two weeks is that "sleep promotes sleep". It is counter intuitive to me, I would think that if the kiddo hasn't slept all night, surely he would nap during the day! I mean he is exhausted right? Wrong. Every single book I read said the same thing, which is funny because many of the tips and proclamations in these books were opposites of each other. However, the sleep promoting sleep theory was consistent with every doctor.
OK, so he needs to sleep at night. Glad I read every book I could get my hands on to find out the one thing that I already knew! Well, at least it shed some light on my fussy baby! He just needed to sleep better at night. Better nights = better days. I am on a mission now to figure out how to get him to sleep better at night. First thing I did was unlatch his co sleeper from our bed. He will wiggle and roll to get as close to me as possible at night, I think he can smell his mom and wants to snuggle. As super cute and sweet as that is, it's preventing him from going into a deep sleep. I moved his co sleeper to the wall, away from me and put him to sleep in that Tuesday night. He only stayed asleep for about an hour then he woke up. Sean moved him to his swing that is in our room and turned it on to lull him back to sleep. After about 20 minutes, I turned it off and let him stay in his swing. Guess what? He didn't wake up until 4:30 am! He slept a solid 7 hours!!!!! When he woke, I nursed him and put him back in his swing. He slept until 7 am! WHAT? We had a great day yesterday, he napped easily and was very social and happy. Last night, I decided to just start him sleeping in his swing. He was fast asleep, so Sean and I went downstairs to watch some TV and relax. I said to Sean, "What if last night wasn't a fluke, what if Griff will stay asleep tonight too?". He looked at me and started to laugh, then I did too. It was a full on giggle fit! Yeah right, we both thought! He did wake up about and hour later, but after some rocking went right back to sleep and guess what...he didn't wake up again until 4 am!!! OH MY GOD! Could we be on to something? So two nights of only waking up once has put a huge smile on my face. I hope this lasts, it may not, but if it does I will then have to figure out how to get him to sleep in his crib. For now, I am just enjoying getting some more sleep!
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