Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Explaining

Although I know no one is looking for an explanation...

I'm a do what works type parent. Not "soggy" and not "crunchy".. just me"y".. lol. Sorry had to do that. ANYWAY.. with Nathan we have tried everything. Feeding on demand (thusly is why I was up every 90 minutes last night), cosleeping (which he will tolerate for about 2 hours and then kick and kick until put back into his bed), rocking/swaying (again he will sometimes tolerate but mostly won't), Kent getting up with him (he will then scream bloody murder until yours truly comes to take him away and feed him), we've tried crying it out (although that's really hard to do when the baby is in the room with you). See we've tried it all. I've never had a baby of mine to not sleep through the night at least once by this time. And I think it has a lot to do with me feeding him on demand for this long. It's one thing (in my humble noncrunchy, nonsoggy opinion) to feed the baby on demand the first 3, 4 even 5 months along. But past 6.. eh.. See folks.. when it comes to my sleep I'm lazy. I will do the quickest thing that works to get back into my bed to sleep. I love sleep. I'm a sleep-o-holic. "Hi, my name is Emily and I'm a sleep-o-holic". There I said it. Anyway, I did it because it was the quickest and fastest way to get him back to sleep. Thusly making him rely on me to get him to sleep. Which I know he can put himself to sleep because he does for both of his naps and when he goes down at night for the first time. After that.. he needs me.. or at least thinks he needs me.. to go to sleep. I am truly at the end of my rope. I have been functioning on 4-6 hours of interrupted sleep for the last 4 months. I'm tired and by the end of the day (especially now that school has started) I'm done and so tired my head hurts. So when my pediatrician suggested the same thing we were considering to do anyway, I agreed and knew it was the next step we had to take. If in a week to ten days we are still in the same boat that we are currently in.. then I will jump off the nearest cliff.. no, no, no.. we will figure something else out.

Anyway, just felt the need to fully explain our situation. And to get it all out of my mind.

*Edited to add* I was feeding Nathan shortly after turning the computer off and getting into bed.. and was thinking about my post.. and how I stated a first how I was a "sleep-o-lic"... which I obviously meant.. "sleep-o-holic".. See? I need more sleep!

8 comments:

Chrissie a.k.a. HoneyB said...

OH you poor Mommy. You can't even spell now.. it's getting serious. We all know what we have to do, but sure doesn't make it easy. Especially when it involves THE BABY. For some reason, us moms are just awful when it comes to the baby of the bunch. I know I did it too. I sure hope this works for you. My daughter has herself in a pickle having to lay down with my grandson every night. Then she moves him to another room and he just turned 4yo. I have no clue what she will do when and if she has another baby. I guess they'll buy a king size bed.
Take care and get some rest, Chrissie

Anonymous said...

((((Emily)))) I'm sorry! Luke was like that. He was up every 15-20 minutes at night to nurse! I finally forced him to wean right before he was 2. I would get out of bed (he slept with us) every time he screamed. I'd rock him and offer him a bottle of water.. no mommy milk! Finally he got the point.. why wake up for just water? He still woke every 30 minutes or so asking for his paci @@. He has just in the last month started sleeping all night.. yes at 4... sorry to tell you that :X We put two twin beds together and made a king (king sheets fit!!) We put Luke and Leah together... it worked! Last week I seperated their beds but left them in the same room. FINALLY he is sleeping good. Sorry I'm not any help but just wanted to let you know what worked for me! Luke still will not stay anywhere without me or Leah. Esp at night.. he wants to be home.. they both do. Hope you get some sleep soon!

Bridgett said...

Good luck, sweetie!!!

Bernadette said...

I'm catching up with you here. Congrats on going back to school!

I LMAO @ the stink finger :) That's too funny...the things we thought we'd never laugh at!

I wish you the best getting Nathan to sleep at night. Just remember that once he gets the new routine down you'll have some rest.

Don't feel bad...Eli STILL gets up a few times almost every night. ...sometimes I even fantasize about giving him back his pacifier. oh, no I don't ;) that would be terrible :)

Take it easy Emily!

Kristine said...

(((Emily))) I could have wrote that word for word. Just know you aren't alone and so many of us are suffering with you!

Janis said...

Hope it works...it will be hard at first I am sure but once you get some uninterrupted sleep it will be SO worth it! :)

Janis

Kim said...

Haley was a non-sleeper. She was awful when it came to EVERYTHING. Naps, night, you name it. It was horrible! I was like you, I would nurse her just to get her back to sleep as soon as I could so I could get back to sleep, too. I finally made the decision to stop nursing her at night. If she'd wake and cry I'd let her cry for a little bit to see if she went down on her own, and then I'd go in and calm her down but make sure to lay her down awake. The first night I think I did that a million times. But, it got better...sloooooooooowly, but it did. She never was 100%...until she finally started taking a pacifier around 11 months (bad mommy for letting her have it so late in the game). As long as she had one near, she'd suck on that and go back to sleep. Every now and then she'll wake up and need me to pick it up off the floor, but other than that it's been a life saver. She wouldn't take that darn thing until we completely quit the night nursings (I tried and tried to get her to take it as an infant but she just wouldn't). Anyway, good luck...and I feel your pain. Between the awful reflux and the sleep issues she's been my more difficult child all the way! It'll be a few more years before we even think of number three...I wouldn't trade her for the WORLD, but she definitely put a little shake in my plans.

Terri said...

You poor thang...

I'm a sleep-a-holic too...so I know how very important sleep is to someone who loves sleep as much as we do..lol

I sure hope Nathan starts sleeping better throughout the night so you can finally get some much needed rest!

Hugs
Terri