Don't get me wrong. I love my child to pieces. We all do, right? But I always know it's going to be trouble if, after our early morning feeding, I see those blue-green-hazel-gray (we're still not sure) eyeballs wide open. That dream SwaddleMe wrap is no longer the miracle it once was. I know what you are thinking. Just wrap up the kid, lay her down, and let her fuss herself back to sleep. HA! Okay, you come on over and try that out with my child. Let me know how that works out for you. In the mean time, I'll be in my bed catching up on some sleep. You know where to find me.
To fully understand this almost nightly experience, let me explain the routine. Yes, we do actually try to have a bedtime routine. I know I live in Vegas, but I'm not THAT mom you see pushing her newborn around in a stroller down disgusting, smoke/alcohol infested Las Vegas Blvd at one o'clock in the morning. You must have me confused with someone else. We actually try to get our child to sleep without the use of extra air enhancements, if you will.
*Sorry- Absolutely. Can. Not. Stand. When. I. See. This. Crap. Period.*
I mean, really people? REALLY?!! We can add this to the list of things that make me bat shit crazy. Rant over.
Did I mention I was a little ADHD? Moving on...
So, for all of you moms out there... do you remember that time in your life before you actually HAD a child (I know it's difficult. Sleep deprivation has fried out my long term memory too.) when you stated all of the things you would absolutely never do? Or how about all of the things you would most definitely have your child doing within 1 hour of birth because you were going to be THAT good at parenting. Or as my bestie Kenny would refer to it as "a baby whisperer." Well, that was me. I had it all planned out. Among all of the, we'll say, unrealistic things I had said or thought (most of which have already gone right out the window- sanity included), bedtime routines and sleep were at the top of my list.
Here was/is the plan:
1. Give the baby a bath around 9ish. (Why I thought you did this every day is beyond me)
2. Put the baby into adorable pj's and a fresh diaper by 9:15 or so- and yes, I had times planned out. I do this with everything. Type A, remember?
3. Feed the baby one last time around 9:30--ha! Like I can tell her when she's going to be hungry.
4. Have the baby burped (minus the milk river- we'll get to that fun story at another time) and happily in her sleeper no later than 10:15.
5. Get up around 3am for a mid-night feeding (WOW- the one part I actually managed to get right! Yay me!)
6. Burp, change diaper, and have peacefully back asleep by 3:30 or so.
7. Do not wake up again until 7-7:30.
It's okay. You are allowed to laugh. I won't be offended.
Well, for the most part, we have been able to *somewhat* stick to that schedule, give or take a half hour. All up until that 3am feeding. Oh we do the feeding, change the diaper, and burp/hurl. We just don't go back to bed. Well we do. Just not for another 2+ hours or so. BUT we are still up around 6:30-7 to start all over again.
So why 2+ hours? What could we possibly be doing for that long? Well, the only thing that she is content doing. BOUNCING. No, not bouncing in her bouncy chair while mommy gets to sleep. I'm talking about bouncing on the big blue exercise/birthing ball. The greatest/worst back workout/pain in your life. Not if you do it and your baby is asleep within 5 minutes. It's after you've done it for TWO HOURS and she's still not asleep. Content, yes. Asleep, no. Heaven forbid I ever leave this ball to give my back a rest. That's when the flood gates of death defying screams occur. I think I'll just stick with the damn ball.
So if the ball works, but doesn't get her back to sleep, how do we finally get back to bed? Remember 30 paragraphs ago at the beginning of this post when I mentioned that Kenny G-esque version of "Go to Sleep?" THAT is how we get back to bed. Well if it's that easy, why does it take 2 hours? Because it requires almost TWO mind blasting hours of that flippin song playing combined with bouncing to get this child back to sleep. Here's the song, for those of you who want to participate in the insane club.
In fact, we are participating in this fun filled nightly event as we speak. We have just about reached the 2 hour mark, and Ellie's eyes are finally closed. Now it's time to shove pillows over my head to block out Nick's 3 alarm air raid that's about to occur in 3, 2, 1...... &$#(@(#U*$#@*#!!!
And this is just one of the reasons why I am bat shit crazy.
So... I am begging. PLEASE. If any of you baby whisperers have any advice for this sleep deprived loon on how to get my over stimulated child back to sleep more quickly, I am dying {literally} to know. Now if you'll all excuse me, I have some pillows to go hide under for the next 30 minutes until my day starts all over again.
PS- Here's a picture of Noelle when she is actually sleeping. Perhaps I should share this with her on frequent occasions to remind her that this is what we do at night. Sleep! Good night/morning all!
1 comment:
There's a great service called "Moms On Call" (momsoncall.com) that might be able to help you! I've had friends use the service w/ great success. They have either online baby classes that you can take (not too long, watch these things when you have time--like at 4am ha!) or you can email them and ask about the price of their email service. They were running a special not long ago on it, like 6 months of unlimited email questions that they answer for a flat rate. I can't remember what price they were quoting though.
Other than that we've used the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child and it helped us to understand a lot about babies and sleep. She's still so little that it's hard to say what kind of schedule she's going to eventually fall into. Give her another 2-4 weeks and you might see some good changes naturally.
Finally, and I think this is in that book, but the one thing I learned early on w/ Jaden was to keep a totally different atmosphere for day time vs. night time. During the day when I fed her I was talking to her, making eye contact, keeping the lights on and keeping things noisy. At night we kept all lights out except for a dim night light near the changing table so I could change her easily. We didn't say a single word or make a single sound. We avoided eye contact at all costs. It took a good week, but she got the hang of things and her nights became much easier to handle because she went back down easier. Eye contact, sounds and light stimulate them and make them more awake while the silent, dark atmosphere made her ready to go back to sleep easily. We did this w/ Sienna and Bristol and both were so easy to put back to bed from day 1. With Bristol I almost wondered if something was wrong with the poor girl because she was so easy. You'll get the hang of it; just keep trying and make sure you're getting a nap in during the day!!
Post a Comment