Olivia is nearly five months! Yay! And I am enjoying her ten times more today than I did four months ago. A terrible thing for a mommy to say? Probably. But those first months were HARD for me! Mainly because I didn't sleep for much longer than an hour at a time most nights, between pumping, feeding, changing diapers and then getting baby back to sleep. Oh, how I am so grateful now for the predictable bedtime and the hours of rest! Guess sleep is like other things in life...sometimes you don't appreciate it appropriately until it's taken away from you! Olivia doesn't sleep through the night, but most nights I don't mind being woken up every 3 hours for a quick bottle. Even though I don't mind, it would be heavenly if I could get her sleeping longer at a time, so any advice is more than welcome! Our sleeping routine goes like this:
7:30- bathtime
8:00- bottle and bedtime
11:30- bottle
2:30- bottle
5:30- bottle
8:00- rise and shine!
I've tried giving Olivia more to eat at a time, but just end up wasting formula because she'll only take about 4 ounces. She's still sleeping in our bedroom because I can't bring myself to go up and down the stairs to her room 4+ times a night. And I'll let her fuss usually for about 2 minutes to see if she'll go back to sleep before I give in and feed her.
Maybe she'll just keep improving on her own, but it seems like everyone else has babies who sleep and it makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong! And that seems to be the number one question from my clients. "Is she sleeping through the night?" "No." Cue sympathetic look directed towards the mommy who doesn't know how to make her baby sleep. LOL
7 comments:
Oh, dont feel bad about her not sleeping!! I will brag when I say Abby was sleeping through the night at 2 1/2 months, but then there was our little monster we like to call Jack... 11 months!!! that was awful!!! even then it was only a few nights in a row and then getting up a few. Sleep will come to her, it is not something you can force. She knows what her body needs;)
I was hoping for some reassurance (can you tell? LOL) so big THANKS! It's really not awful, but I just hate feeling like I'm doing something wrong when I'm trying so hard! So...I'll try to stop being so paranoid and start enjoying things!
Hey sweetie,
Your doing fine. Each baby is different. I was just blessed with you and Brian because other wise I would have been insane! I do seem to remember calculating at one point that between your younger three brothers I got up and down three to six times a night for three years. I believe I did that calculation after watching a documentary on sleep deprivation as a form of torture on POW's!I didn't know I was being tortured, I just thought I was being a MOTHER! Just be grateful you are feeling to enjoy your baby. Love you!
Jayelle.....I can totally sympathize and understand with what you are going through! We COULD NOT get Connor to sleep through the night until we "trained" him to at 4 1/2 months. I couldn't take the waking up every 2-3 hrs thing. We trained him and it was the best thing we EVER did! Before that I went through exactly what you are going through! He would just NOT sleep! We even tried putting cereal in the formula and nothing got better! So....I recommend the "training" and if you want me to explain how we did that I would be happy to! Saved me!!!! Rylie didn't sleep very good through the night but, at 4 months old she finally trained herself. Good job having a routine!!!! That's so important, I think!
I had to stop reading your post half way through because I am going to have a newborn in a few months and I'm fine with being ignorant going into it. Hhahahahahaa. Love you Jay!
I totally feel you. When Jocelyn was 5 to 7 months I was so sleep deprived (especially having to get up at 6am with her brother after being up all night with her!) and so I did some math. I can't remember the site (one of those baby sites) that said that once they are 12? lbs they can sleep atleast 6 hours straight without needing food. So, if they wake up before that they are just restless or uncomfortable. I would try not feeding her every other time she wakes up. Check her, makes sures she's clean and wrapped or unwrapped (whatever she prefers)and rock her for a minute and lay her back down. You may have to let her cry but I never let her go more than 10 mins. Within a week of doing this she was only waking up at the times that I would feed her and skipping the other times.
Then of course I got super lazy (or incredibly genius) after that and just left a bottle in her crib and when she woke up she would get it herself and go back to sleep. hahaha. I probably don't suggest that part though :)
Good luck! You are such a good mommy and in a few months you will look back and this will all be so silly to you. It's such a short piece of time, even if it feels like a sleepless eternity.
Kathy is 6 months now and that is about what she does too. I feel like a zombie in the morning, but we're still alive. Sometimes she sleeps for 6 hour blocks sometimes she's up every 2 hours. I did "sleep train" aka let Celia cry when she was 6 months, but I kind of regret it now. Yes, babies need to cry sometimes, but you just have to pay attention to the cues.
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