Sleep!

[MrsK]

HoW, he'll be "BabyK" forever here too. . . or at least until he finishes college.

[bokelley]

How are things going? Is he sleeping a little better?

[MrsK]

We have one good night followed with one bad night.

So, last night he was impossible to put down and by 11PM he was overstimulated and unconsolable. It seemed that the more we tried to comfort him, the more upset he became. Finally -- after feeding, diapering, checking the temperature of his room, removing boogers from his nose, and anything else we could possibly do for him, we let him cry it out. It was torture but it worked and he slept about 4 hours before waking to feed and then another 3 hours before waking to feed again. That's a good night.

Today, I feel good, well rested. I've been trying to wake him every 2 hours or so to diaper or nurse or bathe. He's been in a half-asleep state all day and even pretty much slept through his bath. So, tonight will likely be another bad night. I'm bracing myself.

[HouseofWool]

I hate CIO. HATE IT with a passion of a thousand flaming suns. But it works for my kids. Kills me, but works.

Hang in there, is there something going on in the house that is stimulating him at night? A funny noise in his room, too much light, too little light? Heck it can be just about anything.

C hates tags, if his jammies had tags in the collar, he couldn't fall asleep. I now have an assortment of jammies and no idea what size they are...

[JC76]

During her first two months Zoe went through the "every other night" cycle where if she gave me 4-6 hours straight followed up by another 3 hours straight in one night, I KNEW that the following night would be crazy. Eventually she started having a few good nights in a row and now at 12 weeks I can pretty much count on her sleeping through the night with only an occasional wake-up. It definitely gets better - hang in there.

Regarding your mom... that must be really rough. Crazy to think that J is only a few weeks old and you're already dealing with the stress of caring for both a child and a parent.

These first few months are so hard. Crazy highs and lows. But it won't be too much longer till you start getting real smiles from him... and suddenly you start to forget that just a few weeks before he was your little monster.

[MrsK]

As expected, last night was pretty miserable. We got him asleep easily and went to bed early ourselves but he was frequently awake. As far as I can tell, the only difference in his room between day and night is that the room is darker and quieter at night. He has made it clear that he does not like the dark -- funny considering that he was living in total darkness until 3 weeks ago -- so we keep the lights on low in his room. I imagine that he feels lonely or frightened when he is alone in his room at night.

[Michele]

Daegan was and still is afraid of the dark. I used to keep 2 nightlights and the main bedroom light on low....it was so bad that I couldn't drive in the car alone with him at night. I set the alarm on my phone so that if I was out and about, I knew to get going home before it got too dark. We even call the inside car lights "duker lights" because we had to keep them on if we drove at night with Daegan. He got better around 2yo once we could "reason" with him and he could express himself better.

[PrincessFiona]

Re: Sleep!

Michele, Zoe was exactly the same. We wondered if it had something to do with all of the lights in the NICU.


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[Michele]

Re: Sleep!

Maybe. It was never dark or quiet in that place.


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[DCJenn]

Nikolai (another NICU baby) sleeps with his bathroom light on (it's off his bedroom) every single night.

I remember when Rick was deployed, Nikolai was up almost every single night for months. I remember posting to the blog here that I was turning in to Edward Norton in Fight club.

It's horrible. The only other part of parenting that has been as hard as the sleepless nights was potty training.

Jenn

[Michele]

Re: Sleep!

Oh Jenn. That last paragraph about sleeplessness and potty training?? SO TRUE!!!


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[HouseofWool]

Oh Jenn. That last paragraph about sleeplessness and potty training?? SO TRUE!!!

Pretty much.

Although Sophie is driving me crazy right now. Several nights a week she wakes between 4-5am to nurse. And then I can't call back asleep. So. Much. Fun. I've been awake since 4:11 this morning.

[MrsK]

Well, last night was a good night (because the night before was a bad night and because he's storing his reserves for a horrible night tonight). We've finally gotten the hang of nursing laying down which makes the nights physically much easier for momma. Basically, I get to rest while BabyK does all the work. However, psychologically, momma is having trouble with nursing in bed. It scares the heck out of me because I worry that I'll fall asleep and roll on him or push him off the bed. When I do nod off while nursing, I have horrible nightmares about hurting or neglecting the baby.

Also, lately, I've been obsessing about SIDS -- I read an article about a 3 week old baby that died after falling asleep on his father's chest. (I know. Stupid me. I should know better than to read!) Also, BabyK has started to roll on his side and shimmy down near the crib slats in his sleep. I never knew that 3 week old babies could roll! So, now I'm freaking out about the infant sleep positioner that he refuses to sleep without, the tiny 5-inch teddybear in his crib to which he's become attached, the temperature of his room, whether he is swaddled properly, etc. I've been reading up and it appears that since the cause of SIDS is unknown, there are a million factors that could or could not contribute to infant deaths. I'm going to discuss it with the peditrician today -- we have another weigh-in this afternoon. I hope the ped can calm some of my worries.

DrK helped a lot more last night too. He returned to work on Monday and basically clocked out when he got home. Then later got snappish when I asked him to stay awake while I was nursing in bed to make sure we don't suffocate the baby. (I have sat vigil and stopped DrK from rolling onto the baby when they have taken afternoon naps together.) DrK blamed his nasty behaviour on the sleep deprevation. I know that I don't have to go to an office/hospital after a sleepless night, but it still amazes me that he can just get up from dinner and go to sleep without even walking through the house to make sure things are locked up. The evening walk thru adds another 30-40 minutes to my bedtime regimine and then I have to wash my face, change into my pjs, etc. By the time I'm ready for bed, BabyK is awake again.

I really over-did it at the grocery store yesterday and my c-section incision has been very sore since last night. It is easy to forget that I had abdominal surgery 3 weeks ago when there is a baby and a house to take care of and a snow storm threatening. By the time DrK came home last night, I was miserable. BabyK was awake but content in his swing so DrK studied near the swing and I went to bed early. I got a couple hours rest before DrK brought the baby in to nurse. Much better for momma.

[alison]

Pretty much.

Although Sophie is driving me crazy right now. Several nights a week she wakes between 4-5am to nurse. And then I can't call back asleep. So. Much. Fun. I've been awake since 4:11 this morning.

Poor you!
It's the same for me! Any time before 4, and I can get back to sleep. The 5 o'clock hour is an early start. But f-ing 4 just blows big time!

[HouseofWool]

BabyK was awake but content in his swing so DrK studied near the swing and I went to bed early. I got a couple hours rest before DrK brought the baby in to nurse. Much better for momma.

We did this a lot when Sophie was first born. She was such a night owl, up until midnight or so. She would be calm, but alert. So, in the swing she went, while E studied. He would give her a bottle of formula before he went to bed so that I could get at least 4 straight hours of sleep. Then I was on duty so to speak, but those 4 hours were crucial!