Babies and sleep, I've learned, is a constant guessing game. Up until Jacob was around 1 month old he slept ALL the time. In fact, I used to think of things that I could do to keep him awake, even for 5 minutes, between feedings (which I always had to wake him for). Unaware that this is fairly typical for a newborn, I was convinced that I was destined to have a great sleeper. After all I could take Jacob to a party, and pass him from person to person and he would stay blissfully unaware as he snoozed away.
As Jacob began to wake up more and more I realized that getting him to sleep was getting more and more challenging. He was much more interested in playing and cooing and looking at everything around him than going for a nap. But still once he was asleep he would sleep for 2-3 hours and I thought, OK well at least he takes good naps and isn't up after 45 minutes, something I knew many of my friends had struggled with with their children.
After returning back to Vancouver (after spending almost a month on the east coast visiting both of our families over Christmas) I noticed it had started to become a trend for Jacob to wake up anywhere from 30 - 45 minutes into his nap. At this point he had started sleeping 10-12 hours straight at night so I wasn't too concerned, after all I thought, at least I'm getting a full nights sleep. I was willing to compromise with day time sleep if it meant that I got to sleep at night. Over time however, I was getting more and more frustrated with his lack of daytime sleep. It was becoming such a struggle to get him down for naps and his bed time that Adam and I finally decided that although we were originally opposed to letting Jacob cry it out, that it might be our only option. We figured if he was crying himself to sleep in our arms he might as well be doing it in his crib.
It took 3 or 4 days of crying for 20-30 minutes before bedtime before he finally got to the point where he would let out one or two little protest cries when I first laid him down and then just talk to himself until he eventually fell asleep. It was at this point that he started sleeping fairly consistently from 630pm - 630am. I was so happy, and knew I was pretty lucky to have a 3 month old who was sleeping 12 straight hours at night. But once again, we were still dealing with fairly short naps. I set out to come up with some sort of schedule and after reading Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child, which had been recommended to me by various friends, I decided to put Jacob down for naps at around the same time each day once he started showing certain signs that he was tired. In reading that book I realized that what I had been taking as tired signs (rubbing his eyes, getting fussy) were actually signs that he was getting passed the tired state and into the OVER tired state which leads having a harder time settling to sleep as well as a shorter, less restful sleep.
So finally a few weeks ago we were in a good rhythm Jacob was taking fairly consistent naps, he was sleeping great at night and I thought (naively) that we had finally conquered all of our sleep issues! I know, I know... I was living in my own little dreamworld!
About a week ago Jacob started waking up again in the middle of the night. At first I thought it must be teething, but he would take a full feed and then go back to sleep with no problems, which makes me think he can't be TOO uncomfortable, or he wouldn't fall back asleep so easily after eating. So then I wonder if he is ready for solids, but every book that I read suggests that if you start your child on solids before 6 months that they are at a much higher risk for food allergies and that their digestive system isn't ready for "real" food yet. So what's a mom to do?Do I just tough it out and get up in the middle of the night to feed him or should I give him some cereal to help him stay full a little longer? If there are any moms out there reading this did you ever experience this? What did you do?
I'm sure there will be a time when he's older that I will miss those times and look back at those late night meetings with nostalgia, but right now I'm just feeling tired:)
I think it would be fine to start him on solids. Ayvlyn had her first solids by 5.5 months - and I held off but she was showing all the signs by 5 months. Trust your instincts - if you see signs (such as night waking) then he just might be ready.
ReplyDeleteNot that you need another book to read on baby/child rearing, but the book "Baby Whisperer" has been amazing for me and Steve - we're not 'rigid' with a schedule so much as consistent with a routine. It also talks about signs to look for, etc for various things. And as you're discovering, there is no telling what each day holds - but at least I can count on doing things in a certain way each time and Ayvlyn knows it too, she knows what to expect throughout the day b/c we've been doing it that way all along for the most part. I think it's helped us.
BTW - Jacob is so sweet lookin' - hang in there and keep up the great work. Peace. - Gillian
Thanks for your thoughts Gillian! I have read the Baby Whisperer, but it was when I was pregnant and I only read the sections on the first few months so it may be helpful to review the later chapters! We've been trying eat/awake/sleep with J. our only issue is that he is ready for his morning nap about 1.5 hours after he wakes up and usually only sleeps for an hour or so, so when he wakes up he's not usually ready to eat for at least another 1/2 hour which tends to mess things up a bit... but we're trying our best to go with the flow:) I think I've decided to try to wait at least until 5.5 months to do solids... we'll see how we do... he slept for 11 hours last night before waking up to feed so i'll keep my fingers crossed for more nights like that!
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