Hi chicas!
So, January was bliss -- Ethan would sleep one eight hour stretch and then do a 3 or 4 hour one right after that. I was human, optimistic, feeling like this motherhood thing was going to be very smooth sailing.
Then Ethan changed it up to waking up every two hours then every hour starting at 9:00! I was a zombie, pessimistic, feeling unable to handle motherhood. We got the books, did the sleep routine, took all advice, and got Ethan back to waking every two hours, for which I now found myself grateful.
One thing we did was I was not nursing him to sleep anymore and only feeding him once or twice a night.
For the past week Ethan has been sleeping 5 hours (officially through the night! but who are those officials who think this is through the night?) then three hour stretches after that. And I am human again. What are we doing differently? I am nursing him to sleep whenever he wakes up and he is sleeping on his tummy. He can roll over (and roll and roll) so I'm not worried about tummy sleep, and starting a week ago I nursed him every time he woke out of desperation for something fresh to try and it seems this must be what is making him sleep longer. Months of not nursing him to sleep bought me waking every two hours or hourly. Nursing him to sleep means sleep! And sleep means I'm a better mother and Ethan doesn't have dark circles under his eyes anymore. For us doing the wrong thing is the right thing.
Moving this month, lots of boxes now and changes in routine soon. We'll see what happens with sleep. Fortunately, Kevin's parents are coming from South Africa for a couple of months so we'll have help!
May 10, 2007
Doing it all Wrong and Loving it!
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2 comments:
Cool, Vern, sounds like you found the magic bullet. Whatever works for you and yours is the best answer. Aidan's sleeping 8 hour stretches and nothing makes me happier than that first morning nursing session..! I'm beginning to realize that I might be the one we'll have to "wean" from nursing and not Aidan. That is, as hard as nursing was at first -- and as demanding as it can seem (especially at four in the morning) -- it's fast become one of the highlights of my first year of motherhood. Sigh...
I feel exactly the same way! Same goes for him sleeping next to our bed. We have his crib in there sidecar to our bed, and I love sleeping right next to Ethan! We have plans to move him out when his granny and gramps return to South Africa and I'm not looking forward to that!
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