Emerson has been sucking at sleep
lately. Last night, he woke up about an hour after I put him down, then was up
randomly 6-7 different times during the night. When he does sleep, it’s so
restless that he ends up tossing and turning and keeping me awake. I will
figure this out if it kills me. He was such a great sleeper before. I have no
idea what the hell is going on. I mean, he is teething and has about 7 teeth
that have poked through. That could be really bugging him. Even Motrin or Tylenol
doesn’t seem to help us at night. I’m
working from home tomorrow, so tonight, I’m going to try something different.
We can sleep in a little later tomorrow, since I won’t have a bus to catch. I
just hope this doesn’t bite me in the ass. When he wakes after I put him down
for the night, I’m not bringing him to bed. Instead, I’m going to just
re-settle him and try to get him to go back to sleep. Pray for me, people! I just
cannot do another night of this. It’s been about 2.5 weeks of restless sleep. I
know he has to be tired. Regardless of how little he sleeps, we still have to
be up early in the morning. He doesn’t have the luxury of sleeping in. He’s
asleep like a damn rock too when I go to wake him in the mornings. I wish he’d
do that overnight! I do not like the “cry it out” method. I’ve been very
fortunate that I can get him down at night without using that method. No tears,
just him falling asleep. I don’t know why he wakes so soon after I put him
down. I thought maybe he was hungry, but he usually eats a large amount during
dinner along with a cup of milk. I think it’s my fault. I’ve conditioned him to
expect a nighttime nursing session when he wakes. I just need to really try and
train him otherwise, or neither of us is going to get any sleep. I’ve let this
go on for a few weeks though. I just can’t go on the good faith that this is a
phase. I think it’s just a bad habit that I’m supporting.
On top
of that, I feel like I rush things so much in the evenings and maybe that is
adding to this issue. Below is a schedule of how our evenings go:
5:15pm: Get Home
5:25pm: Emerson gets a snack (usually something small like a
cereal bar, or goldfish crackers w/ water)
5:30pm: We play (usually outside if it isn’t too cold/rainy)
6:30pm: I start dinner (We’ve been eating quick things
lately, so it doesn’t take long to make)
6:45pm-7:15pm: Dinnertime
7:15pm-7:45pm: (sometimes 8pm if he isn’t tired) Playtime,
but I try to choose quiet activities like reading a book, or puzzles to wind
him down.
7:45-8:05pm: Bath (I usually let him bathe until he’s ready
to get out. He usually lets me know when one leg is hanging outside of the tub!)
8:05-8:10pm: Diaper/Jammies
8:10pm-8:15pm: I usually rock him for 2-3 minutes. Nothing
serious, then I lay him down still awake.
8:15pm-8:30 pm: Bedtime This ranges. Sometimes he’s out fast
sometimes it takes a few minutes. Last night, he was out in about 7 min. He
just lays there and rolls around sometimes until he’s too tired to move and
then falls asleep.
What do you guys think?? Sometimes I give him a snack before
bedtime, but he never really seems hungry. I think it’s stupid to give him a
snack if he isn’t hungry. He typically finishes dinner around 715pm. It seems
silly to give a snack before bath time that close to dinner ending. Is it
possible that because dinner is over at 715pm, he’s just hungry a couple of
hours after I put him down?? I don’t know?? I honestly do not think he’s
hungry. I think it’s more that I’ve set this bad habit by nursing him when he
wakes after being initially down.
A friend suggested that I do everything the same, but after
bath and jammies, give him a few goldfish/light snack, then continue to the
bedtime routine. I just feel like that might rile him up and he might think it’s
playtime again. I think tonight I’ll
just try really hard to get him back down without nursing when he wakes.
Eventually, I’m hoping he won’t wake during that time because he knows he’s not
going to nurse. I swear, weaning seems to be harder than learning how to
breastfeed altogether.
He naps at daycare between 12-3 every day. Yesterday, he
napped 12:40pm-3pm, so I don’t feel like he needs to have any kind of an
evening nap. To me, that’s deadly because he might end up being up all night.
Again, regardless of what time he goes to bed, we have to be up early, so I can’t
push too much, or he really won’t get enough sleep. If we didn’t have such a
time sensitivity in the morning, I’d have a little more wiggle room. For anyone
who thinks I’m making this bigger than it should be, please go fly a kite. It
has been a rough few weeks. I’ve been pretty patient about things too and have
just tried to let life progress naturally, but it’s beyond ridiculous as this
point. I don’t care if people do not believe in schedules either. I like having
structure, therefore I’d like to have some kind of structure with sleep. I don’t
care if other parents let their kids sleep whenever they want. This isn’t a
child-led relationship. It’s parent-led and I’d like to set boundaries for my
child, especially to be able to function properly. I don’t have a helping hand
at home. I don’t even mean someone taking him, so I can nap. I’d never nap
anyway. I just mean even if I am tired, I still have to carry the house. I don’t
have someone to fall back on to help me out around the house, or run an errand,
or do laundry, change a diaper, or just occupy Emerson because I’m tired. I
need to be 100% all of the time. On top of that, I want him to be happy. A
well-rested child is a happier child. He deserves to be given the skills to get
himself to sleep and to be able to rest at night. It would be irresponsible of
me to not care about this.
I feel like people are overly critical of other parenting
styles. A lot of times, I can feel it coming towards me and I don’t appreciate
it. At what point am I no longer labeled as inexperienced, or a new mother?
Even if someone has a child that is a few years older than me, it doesn’t make
me less than because they’ve been through it already. Someone is always going
to have more experiences under their belt. Even if someone has more than one
child, I feel like they still deem me as inexperienced and less than. I don’t
think I am. Every kid is different and everyone stumbles through things in
their own way. This is just one of our roadblocks, which we will get through. So,
if anyone was thinking “She’s just making this such a big deal for no reason”
you can kindly hit the x in the upper right hand corner and stop visiting my blog.
--one tired mamacita
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