Aaron's sleep habits have regressed. Three weeks ago, he was regularly sleeping all night (10pm-8am) in his crib with a 5-7 hour stretch between feedings. Since then, he's begun eating every 2-3 hours at night and having difficult going back to sleep after 6am. The regression could be due to our upheaval (travel, company, and illness), a growth spurt, or the whimsy of an infant. Regardless, it's self-perpetuating. The more he eats at night, the less he eats during the day, the more he needs to eat at night. A vicious cycle that wears me out. So as I see it, here are my options:
A. Put him to bed in the crib and keep feeding him when he wakes in hopes that staying home for a while will help him settle down and gradually lengthen the time between feedings again. (but what about the vicious cycle bit?)
B. Put him to bed in the crib and try just rocking him when he wakes in hopes that he'll go back to sleep without eating and eventually not wake up in the night. (wishful thinking? probably leading to A or C)
C. Put him to bed in the crib and let him cry it out at night in hopes that he'll learn to soothe himself back to sleep and eventually not wake in the night. (at 11wks is he too young for this?)
D. Put him to bed in the swing where he sleeps 7-8 hours and just wean him off the swing later, once his nighttime is well established. (attractive, but develops a dependence on the swing...)
And this is just nighttime! I'm still confused about his daytime sleep. The books make "eat-awake-sleep" every 3 hours sound so easy. But what do you do when they wake after 30minutes and want to eat again but it's only been 2 hours? And if he falls asleep right after eating but it's during Noah's naptime, I'm loathe to wake him because it may be my only chance to sleep. And then there's the fact that he's been fussy after eating so it's easier to let him sleep then - though this seems to be improving.
Overall, Aaron is more awake, alert, interactive, and happy than ever. I'm amazed at how well he's tracking us, how he lights up with eye contact, how much he's "talking," and how well he's eating. I really am in love with the little guy. I'm also tired. And confused. Which makes it even harder to get rest. If you think of it, please pray that we'll have wisdom as we train Aaron to sleep. And let me know if you have any tips on A, B, C, or D.
Hey Carolyn.
ReplyDeleteI've tried a lot of things this time around including all of your options (except the swing one as mine don't like swings). I think that ultimately for us what it comes down to is that I have two little boys very close in age and that right now both need things and I can't make a perfect schedule that fits them both right now and that gets us out of the house enough for the toddler (much less cook every day, grocery shop, keep up with the toys, etc etc).
I can't leave the toddler downstairs by himself for 20min to make sure the baby gets to sleep when he "should" based on my particular schedule and I can't keep the toddler from squealing when something excites him in a way that it loud enough to wake the baby over a noise maker. I can't give the toddler the perfect environment for naptime when the baby's schedule requires three naps and his is only one and those three naps don't always overlap with ONE toddler nap. I know that the toddler MUST have his nap at a certain time but that the baby's naps seem to be okay as long as two are short little naps and one is a decently long one (I have been helping him with that). I DO wake him from his morning nap 2 hours before the toddler's afternoon nap to ensure that it is pretty likely that their naps coincide (harder to keep him awake if we are out and on a car ride home and he falls asleep!). I do everything I can to get that afternoon nap as long as possible too so I can dose and sleep a bit.
I also know that 2mo is a normal time for a sleep regression and that some of it phases out but I can't remember why!
I do know that even though there is a lot of night waking going on over here, I feel better than I did two months ago just making sure I catch 2-3 naps per week and go to bed early enough too. I think my body is adjusting to it all. I live in the hope that we were able to help direct the toddler to a great sleeping schedule a little later and it was okay.
I have friends with four kids who sleep great from an early age but I can't seem to get it to work for mine! They swear by the CIO method but I think you have to just try stuff and see what works for you at that time.
I have read that to help kids get back "on track" you can give them a sleep aid short term like for 3 days and then convert back to the original sleeping environment the next day and see if it works! You could try that with a swing and just to give yourself a break for a few nights too and catch up.
You could also use car rides too if that might help for napping...of course you don't get to sleep then and it costs gas but I do a lot to try to catch some sleep!!
HTH!!!
Oh - one more thing - our pediatrician suggested to me to try to increase the daytime feeding because there are a certain number of calories per day so he suggested offering more often during the day so that he didn't NEED the calories at night. It's contrary to babywise but I found it to be an interesting theory.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your opinion on our sleep issues left on facebook! We have this little cradle/swing that has a bucket that is a lot like attachments they sell for the pack-n-play as a newborn sleeper. It has been working for us for the past week to just let Maggie sleep in that. I don't turn on the swing unless it is 3:30 a.m. and she just went back to sleep at 2:30 a.m., so I don't feel like she is getting too dependent on the swing... but even if she does, so be it. She needs the sleep and I need the sleep. Once she is too big for that bucket we will attempt the crib again. I also always attempt to put her down for her morning nap in her crib. She'll sleep there for about 30 minutes, but that is all. I totally understand the frustration... it seems like it should be easy. And I am so scared of doing it "wrong"!
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