First let me say that Lyla is a good sleeper. She goes down at night and stays a sleep for 5-6 hours. Love it! At least I did. Lyla would wake up some time between 3:00 and 5:00, eat and go right back to sleep. 20, 30 minutes tops and mommy was back in bed. That was until a few nights ago. Now she is still waking up around the same time but is wide awake. She eats and then stays up for an hour or so. Not so fun for mommy. The only thing I know to do is put her in her swing where she'll watch tv contently until she falls back asleep. I hate for my child to sleep so much in her swing, but sometimes it's the only thing to do if I'm to get any sleep. And now that I'm back at work, I need to get all the sleep I can.
So the past few nights our routine has consisted of mommy going to sleep around 10:30. Mommy waking up to pump, Lyla waking up to eat, Lyla staying awake. Mommy gives up and puts Lyla in her swing and Mommy goes back to sleep on the couch.
I'm sure this is just a phase, but it is frustrating. Especially since I was so excited that my little one was being such a good sleeper. Maybe she is sleeping too much during the day. Maybe she misses her mommy time now that I'm back at work so she wants to get it in during the night. Who knows. I just have to keep reminding myself she's only 6 weeks old. I was just hoping for more of a schedule by now.
Oh well. I get to love on my girl and that is the best part.
Any advice on getting a routine of eating times and wake and sleeping times would be much appreciated.
4 comments:
I am in no way an expert on sleeping, but I know that I LOVE to sleep and therefore really, really wanted my boys to follow suit. Unfortunately they did not see the light (or they did and thus woke up! ha!).
Stuart and I had a really hard time with the whole eating, sleeping, wake schedule. We ended up reading the book, On Becoming Baby Wise by Gary Ezzo. We didn't follow ALL his advice but I did like his approach to the scheduling of eating. To sum it up (and pardon my botching of his words, this is just how we did it) we would feed, then play (anything to keep them awake), then put them to sleep. The idea was that baby was learning how to sleep without using food as the mediator. It helped for us.
This is a hard age/time. Lyla is getting bigger and more aware of her surroundings. You're becoming more confident in your role as mommy and then bang! everything changes. Not to mention you going back to work. I remember "waking up" for the last time and not remembering how to turn the light on. I was so confused and out of it and sleep deprived and....yeah, it was crazy.
I hated it when people said "it will get better" and "before you know it you will be missing all those sleepless nights because your little on will be all grown up." I will say that I DON'T miss the sleepless nights but I DO miss teeny-tiny babies.
Do not feel bad for having her sleep in a swing. Whatever works, as long as she is safe is A-okay in my book.
You are doing such a great job!
When Caitlin had Elzie, I spent a lot of time in Jacksonville helping out and while I was there, I was always on night duty. I remember one night around 3 am someone brought her to me to give her a bottle and I said "I love her, but I really don't like her right now."
With both girls we did something similar to what is in "The Baby Whisperer" where you learn how to read your baby, etc. The schedule thing was with the accronym E.A.S.Y. which was Eat Awake Sleep You and it has worked for us. It's a lot like what your friend Clarissa mentioned. Even if the awake stage is only 15 minutes at first it helps them regulate and you know what is next in the routine. It's not a schedule jsut a routine and then you see how your little one creates her own schedule.
I know it helps when she naps to have a bit of noise, maybe the window shade open, etc. and then the night time sleep is all lights off, silence, etc. so they can distinguish between day and night. Also, as hard as it might be, don't talk to her for the night feeding. And probably have very dim light, no noise, etc. The more stimulation, the more awake she will be. This really helped us when we had a hard time regulating Claire.
OK enough of the novel! Eden sleeps in her swing so yeah - whatever works but the things above really helped us out
YES!! Eat, wake, sleep!! But not at night, of course... he he he.
No worries, like you said, she's only 6 weeks old. As long as you create a schedule (which it appears that you have) and stick to it, she will regulate.
Keeping her awake after she eats during the day is crucial, though. She will be tempted to fall asleep while, or right after, she eats, but you need to keep her awake, if only for 15 minutes, before you put her down for her nap. All of that is probably on a 2.5-3 schedule, so just keep going.
At night, you just remove the wake time. Eat, then right to bed. We've all been where you are, so don't feel bad. And don't feel bad about using the swing... everyone does it!! It's sanity for mom!!
Question: if you put her back in bed after she eats at night, does she cry? If so, have you let her cry it out?
I know some people just don't believe in letting a baby cry, and if that's you, it's certainly your choice. :) But if you haven't tried it, you may give it a shot. Maybe she'll cry for a bit, then just talk herself to sleep.
Just my two cents... or maybe a lot more than that!!! LOL
Good luck, you're doing great!!
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