Sleep Journal

[judecorp]

Little Miss Thing has been a little better about getting herself back to sleep when she wakes. Sometimes. I think that it is progress and that she will continue to get better as she gets older. Last night she whimpered and cried out a couple of times but it didn't go anywhere and she mustn't have fully woken up because she drifted back off into sleep. (That didn't stop her from waking up several times during the night though, heh.) And this morning she woke up from her morning nap after 40 minutes and was making noise, and while I was stalling (reading blogs), she went back to sleep and is still sleeping. This was 30 minutes ago.

Of course, she also woke up for the day at 6:30 this morning which she hasn't done since before we set the clocks ahead. Usually she has some milk around 6-6:30 and then sleeps until 7:30 or 8. But (if you are listening, God, that would be good) I wouldn't mind her waking up for the day at 6:30 if she slept through the night. Maybe someday.

She is much better at napping these days and rarely has a nap that is shorter than an hour, usually longer. I think it is because she is wearing herself out by crawling and climbing all over the house. She likes to pull up on everything and give me heart attacks, but only pulls up to kneeling and hasn't tried to stand unless I am holding her. I don't know if it's related to her muscle tone issues or if she's just cautious. I'm in no hurry, seriously.

Nights are still crazy though she will often sleep until 11 or later without waking up, and there have been a few times that she has gone back to sleep with minimal issue and I have gone back to the real bed until at least 2am. Lately, though, I haven't been able to put her to sleep at night because she just stays awake to be with me... and when I have gone in around midnight or later the same thing is happening unless I bring her into bed with me. Jen has been putting her to bed at night when she won't sleep for me and I think the time has come for Jen to be the one to go in during the night as well, since she seems to equate Jen with "Okay, I really need to go to bed now." It sucks though because Jen has to work and all, but if she starts going down in the middle of the night with no fuss maybe eventually she will stop waking up altogether.

It's not even like she is up to nurse or to eat or whatever. I am on so many mama boards and they all talk about trying to wean babies from one of their night feedings so they will sleep better and I just laugh. Punk has a bottle around 7-7:30, and then doesn't get another until 6am at the earliest. She is definitely not waking to eat or out of habit of eating - she is just waking up! Maybe our little trip to Florida will flip a switch.

Speaking of, I am not looking forward to flying with Punk this time around. Last time she was contented to sleep during the flights while I held her. Now she hates being held and just wants to crawl and climb everywhere. She is going to HAAAAAATE it.

It's really starting to feel like spring. I hope it sticks.

Comments

[hetterrific.livejournal.com]

I think as a mama you can tell what your baby needs. When C was younger and the resident told me to let her cry it out to sleep, I knew it wasn't going to work. The way she was crying wasn't a "I'm just manipulating you and I just want to see you," it was a "I don't know what's going on here and I need you." One day it changed and she just kinda whined and went to sleep. At that point we knew we were at the stage where we could put her in her crib awake and she'd talk and maybe whine a bit, but she could put herself to sleep. Just like in the middle of the night I can tell when she wakes with the "I need something!!" cry, rather than the "it'd be nice to come snuggle in your bed with you" cry.

I think you recognize this in your baby and I applaud that. You know when she's ready for things and you try different things at those times.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I don't think she'll EVER be ready for me to stop sleeping with her. I think we're going to have to "force" the issue if it's important. I'm willing to give it a shot though it doesn't bother me to sleep with her. I think it bothers Jen, though, that I don't sleep with /her/. :)

[shanneeluee.livejournal.com]

I thought I'd pass my number to you...

cell is 407 312 6951 and I'm totally looking forward to hooking up with you at Disney. :-) We'll have to work out the details before next Friday.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Thanks for your number. Do you get texts? I am a text fiend! :)

[shanneeluee.livejournal.com]

No. :-( It's like 15 cents a text, because it's not part of our plan. We only do it in emergencies.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Okay cool. I didn't used to have it on my plan and was emergencies-only too, I totally understand. Then we ended up adding it and now I am totally nuts about it. :)

[colleenod.livejournal.com]

Sorry that nights are still crazy for you all.

And I hope spring sticks, too.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

They're sort of a controlled crazy. Shaking it up, though, THAT'S going to be crazy. :)

[yip95.livejournal.com]

That sounds like progress to me! especially if you're considering getting Jen back into the picture. Yay Punk!

I hadn't realized that she wasn't getting a bottle when she woke up. Weird kid. I think i'd go crazy if nursing Z when he woke up didn't actually cause him to fall back to sleep.

Isn't it great when they put themselves back to sleep? We call it the "Non-Mom-Needing Fuss". They're the best.

We're working on getting him to actually fall asleep at bedtime, instead of getting sleepy and then...WHOO-HOO! Play Time!!!...cuz, ya know, that sucks.

Maybe by playdate time, both our kids'll be champion sleepers.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Yeah, isn't it weird? According to all of the "sleep books," I should totally have a model sleeper right now. (Except for the CIO part.) Since she was tiny, she has had a consistent bedtime routine with a consistent bedtime, she slept in her own co-sleeper/crib, she didn't have the benefit of nursing to sleep, etc. She did, for a while, get a bottle at midnight... I think that stopped a month and a half ago when I decided that since she wasn't puking anymore, it was time to stop the 6-7 small bottles a day and go with the big guns. (She gets 4 bottles a day now, soon I think we will do 3.)

Actually, for a while we could put her down not totally asleep and she would sleep 12 hours in her crib with one wake-up for a bottle. That was somewhere around 5-6 months. She was like a sleep champion. What the heck happened?!!?!

So... when should we have our rest stop playdate? ;)