Are you sick and tired of hearing my complaints about the sleep issues at our house? If yes, please skip this post. If no, and you care to read about what is going on and either want to help or empathize, read on!
The last week has been the roughest we've ever had as far as sleep goes. Not only was this a week of milestones and many bumps and bruises, but it has also been exhausting. During the day, James is basically happy, energetic and wanting to learn, touch, explore EVERYTHING! It's crazy! He has another tooth coming in now, and possibly more on the way. He is crawling full speed, and starting to pull himself up on things - including his CRIB. Last night he was up from 4:00am to about 6:30am. Every time he would finally fall asleep in our arms, and we'd put him in the crib, it wouldn't take more than a few minutes before he was standing and crying. At one point we finally laid him down, and walked out of the room. He cried hard for 10 minutes, and I couldn't take it any longer so I went in. He hicupped after that for almost an hour! I felt terrible, but even worse is this shadow over us that is our lack of sleep. My hubby is finally fed up too, but we don't know what to do. Can we assume that he is really not suffering from any unseen problem, and just let him cry? Having no sleep, it is hard to make decisions, and it is difficult to be rational - particularly at 5:00am. I am surprised we are not divorced yet.
Seriously, I find this sleep situation distressing now. At first I was able to somewhat embrace it, but it has progressively gotten worse and worse. I am very officially at my wits end, and I don't know what to try next. I think everyone I know is just sick of me by now, so I feel somewhat abandoned with this problem, and on top of it we get very little time by ourselves. Time without James has now become almost a necessesity. Things sort of feel very fragile around here right now. Even this post doesn't entirely make sense in my opinion. Anyway, he is down now for the night (9:00pm), so I am going to end here and try to get some sleep before the party starts.
9 comments :
Sorry you are having a terrible week!!! Just remember this sleep issue won't last forever.
Heather: I too am sorry you are having this sleep issue....CIO is so very hard to do on us mommies but then again exhaustion is hard also...I second what Summer said it won't last forever but its soooo tough right now hang in there
Hey Heather, I'm empathizing with you from afar. Emma's had her share of rough nights, too! I'm not going to give any advice, because each baby is so different, but one book that helped me was Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth. It's got a couple different methods to try -- I used his extinction method, and now Emma's only up once a night to eat! (rather than every 2 hours)
No matter what you decide to do, you are a great mama, and James is very lucky to have you in his life.
Take care!
This is NOT advice... Just a "have you tried" thing, in case you are running out of things to try...
I can't remember what age we did this, but it really helped Ben sleep if we just sat by his bed till he fell asleep. If we picked him up, the second we put him down he would wake up and cry. But if we put him down, played some music or sang, he would poke his head up in his crib every minute or so, look at us, and then lay back down. After about 15 minutes he would slow down on the looking and then finally fall asleep. After a few nights we moved our chair closer and closer to the door and then finally out the door. I've never been able to let him cry it out, so it made me feel better that he knew we were there and fell asleep peacefully without us having to hold him in the middle of the night. (We still rocked him when we first put him down at the start of the night. I know, I'm such a sucker.)
I know every child is different, but it might be worth a shot? (Or maybe later... Since I really can't remember how old he was when we did this.)
Oh yeah... And I agree with Becky. You are a great Mom and James is a lucky little man.
i´m a stay at home mom living in germany and i came to your blog through jamie´s! i have a 6months old baby-girl and i before that i was nannying some years (newborns til 8year olds)
so, i was reading all those posts with the sleeping issues....and first of all: you´re a great mommy!!!!!you´re really patient and this is GREAT!!!!
now my little advice:
if it´s the teething that makes him being up all night than it might help to let him sleep in a car seat?!i did this some time and it helped!the upright position is often more bearable than to ly flat on the back....
other than that my little girl is more peaceful if we let her stay in her bed, rubbing her back or pet her!
i don´t know if it helps?!
hope you´re getting some peaceful sleep very soon!!
leslie
hi Heather! This is Renee I haven't been around lately, but now I'm back to blogging somewhat. I actually have a lot of experience with this type of thing, I'd love to talk with you about it. I have messenger, my addy is j.r.shaw@hotmail.com...add me and if you're on at all tonight than maybe we can talk about it tonight. I'd have questions for you before I'd give any advice that's why it would be the best to be able to have a convo about it. But until we talk (you could e-mail me as well and explain the situation in detail) I'll leave you with this...You are a great mom and James is blessed to have you! Things are tough (I have 2 under 18 months!) but you just have to push through! I really hope I'm able to help you, if you don't feel comfortable talking to me about it that's fine, but I'm always here if you need!
Renee
I hope it gets better for you soon. Hang in there. I know.....easier said than done. But your strong...it'll work out.
Heather, I am a lurker at your blog and am a mom of 3... the only thing I can say to you is you have to let him cry it out. It will take one week and he'll be sleeping through the night. Leave the house and go sleep at your parents if you have to. He has got you wrapped around his little finger, and for the sake of your marriage and mental health, you must do this now. THere is absolutely nothing wrong with him - except that he has learned how to manipulate you. I'm imploring you to stop what you're doing and let him cry.
Post a Comment