As his sleep pattern degenerated over the last couple of months and he was waking up at all hours of the night, Nerdy and I decided that maybe weaning him from nighttime nursing would lead to better sleep. (During our Christmas visit, Grandma and Wendy woke up to play with him from 1am to 3am.) This way he would take in all his calories during the day and sleep straight through the night, leading to better rest for everyone. Nice idea. He's been sleeping through the night all right, but night ends at 5:00 and not a minute later. Sometimes a horrid 4:30 or 4:45. And as Nana said, "Anything with a 4 in it" is a bad time to be awake for the day.
We looked for help in our "sleep expert" book which helpfully told us that early waking is one of the most difficult sleep issues to change. They half-heartedly listed some suggestions, all of which we tried: white noise, black-out shades, later bedtime, earlier bedtime. Nothing worked. And now we're all more tired than ever. Nerdy and I are suffering from a level of sleep deprivation that we haven't experienced since the Bub's early infancy.
Now we have a new strategy, one that will hopefully restore normalcy (and blogging) to our lives: getting Sasha to transition from two naps a day to one. The theory is that this will have the magical effect of a later morning wake-up time. Today we're on Day 6. OK so far on one nap; Sasha has really gone the distance without a meltdown and we're proud of him. As for nights/mornings, the results have been inconsistent so far. Cross your fingers for us that one more week and we'll be back on a Normal People Schedule.
Ugh!!! I so feel for you!! I'm hoping that the one nap/day will prove to be the answer. Also, you're making me sort of freak out about my next little one being an early riser--yikes!! I don't want to have to deal with 5am wake ups, I don't think I could handle it!! Anyway, back to you guys....I'll be crossing all my appendages that he'll get back on track soon---and you'll find that one nap per day opens up a lot more time to go places or do activities :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the encouragement, Carrie. But you paid your dues in the sleep department early on, so I'm sure you can handle whatever #2 throws at you!
ReplyDeleteSo sorry to hear the sleep deprivation continues. Have you tried my idea of feeding him turkey close to bedtime? Might sound goofy, but who knows? Hang in there! I loved Nana's comment about the number "4" and being awake. Ha ha. My number is 6 and sometimes 7.
ReplyDeleteI think it's time he starts sleeping a better schedule. He's not an infant anymore and this is unacceptable. Have you tried going to the library and browsing a lot of books on the subject (I forget that in NYC libraries you can't really browse the shelves)- maybe I could check out the Madison libraries. I mean, the wheel has already been invented. I know you're sleep deprived, because sometimes when we talk on the phone, you sound like zombie (sorry, it's true, but I know why). Well, best of luck to you all. I don't know how you can do it. Babies don't care much for logic, do they?
ReplyDeleteI also like Nana's quote. :)