Hi Friends-
I'm in full on zombie mode today. Isla is a nighttime terrorist. The kid doesn't sleep. I know that it can being annoying when parents complain about their kids sleep because it's never consistent and right when you think they've turned a corner something changes but when you're in it, it truly feels like the world will end if you don't get 10 blissful minutes of restful zzz's.
A little like this......
Or this......
and one of my all time favorites---this.... (I should have posted this with Isla's "I sail, I'm a sailor, I sail" pic - circa What About Bob?)
This 7th month was a big one for MIss.I on the sleep front. She went from her co-sleeper to crib almost 3.weeks ago and we officially put it away today. I think she was ready for the move and needed the extra real estate to kick around (she's like B in that way- she flails around a lot in her sleep). We also have been working on a consistent nap schedule and she has been eating 2 solid meals (i.e.: purees) a day.
After she was moved to her crib she did great for the most part. She still woke up once or twice a night but she went to sleep great and we had a loose routine. Last Week she did great in Priest Lake. She was sleeping about 6 hours straight with 1-2 nighttime feedings and a very consistent nap schedule (I think the activity wore her out!). She did great over last weekend...but as soon as Monday hit all hell broke loose. She started waking up 5-6 times a night, sometimes after only an hour or less of sleep. She is still having some digestive issues with gas waking her up so I've tried feeding/burping/rocking to try and get those stubborn burps out, gripe water before bed and even in the afternoon sometimes, elevating her mattress and an infant probiotic (which I didn't see a big change from). The Dr. said she can have a very low dose of Mylanta or Maalox but I wasn't comfortable giving it to her and I got other recommendations from Mom Friends to try first.
Last night, she went down at 8:30 (which is about an hour later than normal but she took a late nap). She was then up at midnight, 2:07, 3:30 and when she wouldn't go down around 4am I grabbed my pillow and her bunny chair and set up shop on the couch because I didn't trust myself to rock her back to sleep without dropping her. I had already dozed in the rocker at the 2am wake-up. On the couch, she cryed in her chair for a bit until she nodded off and then woke up two more times in need of more rocking. Needless to say, it was NOT a restful night.
I had heard that during mental leaps (ie: crawling, walking, solids, etc) sleep patterns can be interrupted. Isla started "army crawling" last week and is really close to regular crawling so I considered that this may be due to her crawling milestone and teething but really it's been going on longer than a couple weeks. Before the last 2 weeks when she slept great she didn't sleep well for at least 3 months, probably longer. I know my last solid nights sleep was mid-March but I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt that it was closer to 3 or 4 months ago.
Today, as B and I discussed our sleep training options I decided to commit to the No Cry Sleep Solution method to see if we can help her sleep better. I wrote down a clear routine which I will try and stick with to see if it helps. The routine includes 2 meals (morning and late afternoon), 2 naps (10am and 3pm) and a clear bedtime routine which is:
6pm: calm shower or bath if needed
massage with lotion before jumping into PJ's and sleep sack
2 books in her rocker with lamp on- one is Good Night Moon
Turn out lamp, turn on white noise and twilight turtle
Breastfeed, Burp, Sing + Rock
7pm: Put her down to sleep.
Tonight, I tried to follow this and we got a bit behind but she was still in bed sleeping by 7:37. Unfortunately, she was then up at 8:40 pm to burp and go through the whole process again. I'm REALLY hoping this process can help us all get better, more restful sleep. I'm trying to keep my goals realistic and be happy with 2 wake-ups and preferably no wake-up from midnight-7am. I'm still subscribing to naive optimism :)
Here's to 10 days of tracking our new sleep routine and the patience it will take to pull it off. Bring on the Americanos!
xoxo.
S
PS- If you have any advice send it my way....I'm open to all unsolicited comments :)
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