Wong Pages

I think I have been getting too used to the daily naps. I think I need them more than the baby now…

Remember when you used to love Daylight Savings? (In the fall, not the spring?) The one day that you could sleep in an extra hour, just for kicks?

Well, could someone tell the Little Monster about it? She may not have gotten the memo…

I have a confession to make. While the Little Monster does sleep very well (8-9 hours on a good day), I do all the things they tell you not to do – nurse her to sleep, rock her, etc. It didn’t bother me since she slept well afterward, and why mess with a good thing, right?

Since the Little Monster has turned four months, she’s been harder and harder to put to sleep. I read this is common, because they’re interacting with the world more now and want to play with you day AND night. But now the nursing and rocking didn’t seem to work anymore.

So, this week we tried to start sleep training her – i.e., letting her cry a bit and fall asleep herself. I’ve never been a fan of this method. I hate to hear her cry and if I can help her fall sleep, why not? The thing is, once you’ve tried everything and nothing works, you have to let her do it on her own.

First night was fantastic – she cried for maybe 10-15 minutes, then slept for 8 hours straight afterward. Second night, she cried and cried and so I caved (nursed her to sleep). Yesterday, another successful night (after a few minutes of crying).

But today I was really proud of her. For naps, I was still rocking/nursing her to sleep because it just seemed harder to put her down during the day.

This morning, I nursed her on the couch and then tried to put her upstairs in her crib after she fell asleep. She woke up while I was moving her, of course.

I put her swaddling blanket on and placed her in her crib, expecting her to cry and protest. She didn’t. So I decided to take a shower and see if she would fall asleep on her own.

I finished my shower, still no cries. I tiptoed to her room with my towel on, and she was just laying there, quiet but not sleeping.
 
I went back to the room, got changed, combed my hair, etc…. waiting to hear her cry on the baby monitor. She didn’t.
 
When I returned to her room, she was just starting to fall asleep. On her own! And no crying! Woo hoo!!

I thought it was pretty funny today as I was trying to get the Little Monster to take her nap. I was rocking her in her bouncer while she was crying and protesting the entire time. Slowly, but surely, she began to give in to the sleep that her body was needing but her mind was fighting.

She kept her cries going even as she was falling asleep. It was like “WAAAAAAA, WAAAAAAA, WAAAA, WAA, WA…” until she finally surrendered to her nap.  

Afterwards, I was told that it won’t be so funny in six months… or in nine years! I guess I have a lifetime of small battles coming up…

Today was the first day that I got almost seven hours of sleep since the Little Monster was born. This was HUGE. Of all the things about parenthood that you don’t understand until it happens to you, sleep is at the very top of the list.

I was never a huge sleeper, I might have slept in on the weekend because we were up late, but I never really needed more than 7 or 8 hours. But you totally take it for granted, the ability to sleep when you want and for as long as you want.

I remember in the first month, the first time the Little Monster slept four hours straight I was so happy. In the beginning, they tell you to wake the baby every three hours so that they can return to their original birth weight. As someone who is used to getting around 7 or 8 hours of sleep each night, this is INSANE. Especially when in the early days, it sometimes took around an hour just to feed her.

I know we are lucky (knock on wood) to have a baby who can sleep a decent amount. Talking to other moms with babies the same age, our Little Monster is sleeping more than average. Which is awesome, because I have some sleep to catch up on.

Read that in the first two years of a baby’s life, new parents lose SIX months of sleep. Yikes! I wonder if there is a way to catch up once they get older?

This morning I found myself awake at 5:00 a.m. I had fed the Little Monster and changed her diaper, and now she was back to sleep (miracle of all miracles!). Usually, I am so exhausted that I fall back asleep too. However, I found myself with a bit of insomnia today, which really irritated me. Why can’t we just sleep on demand? Or make babies do the same?

Anyway, I should mention that the inspiration for this blog is my friend Alissa’s blog, Circus Daily. It’s a gorgeous, funny, well-written blog about her family and her recent pregnancy. I love reading it, and it made me want to put pen to paper too (or in this case, finger to keyboard). I don’t think my posts will be half as interesting as hers, but blogging is sometimes more for the writer than the reader, right?

Last night, the Little Monster woke up every hour from midnight to about 9 a.m. After the six-hour sleep a couple of nights ago, we had high hopes. We thought it would be the beginning of long nights of luxurious sleep and the end of all-nighters. We were wrong.

She cried so much we were exasperated. Was it gas? Is she colicky? Maybe a growth spurt in her sixth week? We’re still not sure.

One friend suggested BioGaia, which is a pro-biotic for babies. It’s supposed to help their digestive systems and help in the case of colicky, gassy babies. Anything is worth a try! Has anyone had experience with this stuff?

Today I swore that someone switched our baby. On a good day, the Little Monster will sleep 3-4 hours at a time, feed, and then sleep another 3-4 hours. This will give us a decent amount of sleep compared to what we were used to, pre-baby.

However, most days this doesn’t happen until 1, 2, 3 or 4:00 a.m. She is a night owl, as I mentioned before. And many nights it seems like she is up crying throughout the night – giving us less and more interrupted sleep.

Last night she slept from midnight to 6:00 a.m. without waking up. This was a BIG DEAL. I was so happy and amazed, I couldn’t believe it! And to top it off, she started smiling today! Not just a gas smile, but an actual look-you-in-the-eye, deliberate,  sheepish grin. My heart melted.

To commemorate the occasion (well, not really), we decided to do her hand and footprints in clay. She was NOT impressed. In fact, she kicked and screamed bloody murder the entire time. I guess she couldn’t understand why we kept pressing her little hands and feet into clay over and over again (Dad’s a perfectionist).

5 a.m. nights don’t feel like they used to…

Have you ever seen a baby with the hiccups? It’s heartbreaking to watch, but I’ve heard that it doesn’t bother them that much. (It bothers the parents even more.) Maybe I should say, “BOO!”