It all started when she was about 5 or 6 weeks old. Before, I could nurse her and she would go right on to sleep and I could put her down and her not wake up. Now though, we nurse, then we rock, then we sing, then we rock some more... she will get almost asleep and then those little eyes will shoot open, she spits her paci out, and starts slinging her arms and kicking her legs. I joke and say she fights off the sandman. She was fighting it so bad the other night (I mean, we had been trying to go to bed for about two hours) that everytime she would shoot her eyes open I would gently run my hand over her face to get her to close her eyes. Haha, it eventually worked... she left them closed. Here lately, I have fallen asleep many times hanging off the side of the bed either rubbing her tummy or holding that stinking paci in her mouth! I have finally gotten where I just leave her in her basinet and let her play herself to sleep. As long as she isn't fussing I leave her in there, usually she wears herself out... sometimes she starts crying and I have to rock her to sleep. I guess I should count my blessings that she will actually put herself to sleep!
This is how I feel sometimes!
Last night was her first night in her pack and play. My sweet girl has outgrown her basinet. I don't think she had enough room to squirm and stretch like she wants. We successfully slept through the night!! Yay!! Well I say we, I was still up every 2 hours or so checking on her. My daddy used to pick on Mama because he said she would jump out of bed during the night and snatch us up in a panic. To my mama's defense, that was when SIDS was really coming about. I know now exactly how she felt. I will wake up at a start and sling the covers off of me and put my hand on her tummy until I feel her breath. I don't wake her up, but it is such a scary feeling... Matt does the same thing though.. except he wakes me up to check on her. Last night he thought I had brought her in the bed with us, but it was Hoss (our yorkie/maltese puppy) that was sleeping in between us. I was confused for a minute too, I looked in the bed, then in the pack and play, then back to the bed. Oh, those sleep deprived moments :)
She finally played herself to sleep at about 10pm, then we slept until 4am, nursed and went right back to sleep until 8am. That was the longest stretch we have had in about 2 weeks! I guess between having more room to stretch out and being finished with our growth spurt we are back on schedule! For the last two weeks we have been up every 2 to 3 hours at night. I feel so rested today that I don't know what to do with myself!
This is the sweetness I woke up to this morning.
She had turned herself all around in that pack and play!
Before Norah Kate wakes up in the morning, she stretches, squirms, grunts, squeaks, (Matt and I call it her bird noises) rubs her eyes, then sleeps for about 5 more minutes then repeats the process. This process can last for about 30 minutes sometimes. This morning she woke me up about 20 minutes before she actually woke up because she was making all these noises. She acts just like Matt during all this. I can wake up at the drop of a hat, not Matt though, he stretches and yawns and then sleeps for another few minutes then stretches and squirms, so on and so forth.
My suggestions to moms who are having troubles getting their little ones to sleep well through out the night:
- Make sure they are comfy. I had poor Norah Kate in a bed too little!
- Make sure they are cool/warm enough.
- Get their tummies full before bed. With Norah Kate I will burp her and really try to make sure she gets the most of her nursie before she goes to sleep.
- I turn on the whitenoise machine while she is first falling asleep, it seems to help her relax.
- There was one time she woke up during the night last night, it was about 1am, but I just gave her the paci, rubbed her tummy, and "Shhhh'ed". I didn't talk to her or pick her up and she drifted right back on. I think before I was jumping up to quick and she got a little spoiled by it.
- I try to keep our room pretty dark too... I was reading where babies aren't afraid of the dark until 18 months old, if they are going to get afraid of it. I don't like for it to be pitch black though because then I can't see her when I wake up. I leave on our bathroom light and it gives just enough light in our room for me to be able to see her.
People might say I should put her in her room if she is keeping me up, but I am not ready for that yet. I wouldn't trade those "bird noises" for anything! As long as she is making those noises in her sleep, I know that she is okay.
Here's to more sleep-FULL nights :)
No comments:
Post a Comment