Baby Bear has decided that she doesn’t really need to sleep at night any more. For the last 3 nights she has been getting up every 1-2 hours at night. I don’t know exactly what happened and what is causing this. She never did sleep through the night, but it wasn't this bad. She used to wake 2 times a night to nurse and I can deal with that. But every 1-2 hours is not working for me at all.
Last night was the absolute worst. She was up at about 3 am and didn't go back to sleep until 5 am. I nursed her when she got up at 3 am and usually she would go back down to sleep, but not last night. She was awake and wanted me to hold her and play. I was so tired from lack of sleep that I was not in the mood to play. Besides it was 3 in the morning! So I lay her next to me in bed and then she started crying. I knew she wasn't hungry since I had just nursed her. I tried to soothe her but she wanted me to hold her. I was getting so frustrated that I had to put her back in her crib and let her cry it out. I had to do it for me and for her. I was watching the clock and told myself I would only let her go for 5 minutes max. That was rough. I wanted to pick her up because I felt awful that she was crying and that I knew exactly what she wanted, but after about 3 minutes she stopped crying. She didn't go back to sleep, rather she was playing in her crib by herself. At least she wasn't crying. That lasted for about 30 minutes when she started crying again. She wanted me and I picked her up and nursed her again. Finally she went to sleep. She slept for an hour and then woke again to nurse and then slept another hour before it was time to get up and start our day. I am a walking zombie today and I had to go to work since I had an important meeting scheduled today.
Where was Papa Bear in all this? Papa Bear slept through it all and I don't know how he did. She was screaming. In the morning, when I told him what happened, he asked why I didn't wake him. I don't know why, I really should have woken him up to help me deal with it but I guess I figure one of us should get sleep and I was already awake. He told me next time to wake him up when I get that frustrated so that he can help. He is a good Papa Bear, I will definitely be waking him up if this happens tonight.
Maybe this change in sleep patterns has to do with me going back to work after a two week break. Being home with Baby Bear for two weeks was great, but it really took her off of her normal schedule. Maybe she just needs a little more time to adjust. When I was home with her, at least I could nap during the day with her, but now that I am back to work napping is not an option. This is not working for me at all. I am trying to be patient and see how things go in the next few nights since my work week is now done and I will be home, but I am seriously considering sleep training. If this continues, I cannot function with this little sleep and we are going to have to do something about this. This Mama Bear needs some sleep in order to be a good momma.
Charlie was like this for over two months (from 3 - 5.5 months old), and we'd finally had enough. We had one night where he only slept for one hour, and that was pretty much the worst night ever. We decided to do Ferber - which really isn't the same as CIO. It worked very well for us.
ReplyDeleteJ could be going through something - like teething. I know that sometimes babies like to practice their new skills so they can lose some sleep doing that. And yeah, maybe she's getting used to your being back at work. But overall, one thing I have learned is that children seem to go through a lot of sleep regression.
GL, though! Being sleep deprived is hell.