Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Sleep Deprivation

Once again, I am going to touch on the issue of my son not sleeping. 

I hate CIO.  Hate it.  The sound of him screaming makes me want to tear my hair out and run to him.  I can't do it.  But waking up from 2-4 times a night? And the only thing that puts him back to sleep is milk.  The doctor said we can't give him water yet.  But really?  No wonder he is so chubby.  He goes through 3-4 bottles from 7 pm to 7 am.  Seriously. 

Last night?  Asleep at 6.  Up at 7, full 6 oz bottle.  Wide awake and playing.  7:30 took him to bed.  Meltdown.  4 oz later, back to sleep (8pm)  Up at 10:30 pm.  Bottle.  Up at midnight.  Finish bottle.  Up at 2.  Bottle.  Up at 3:30.  Play.  Until 5.  Bottle.  Apparently at that point he went back to sleep for 2 hours.  Of course, I was not home at this point. 

Listen, my kid is AHHHHH-MAZING.  He is chubby.  He is jolly.  He has adorable rosy cheeks.  He is like a baby Santa.  But he WILL NOT STAY ASLEEP.  I love him.  But I. Need. Sleep.  And seriously, he is so fat!  Why?  Because he eats allllll niiiiiiight looooong.  More frequently than he does during the day.  What is that about?  Tonight I am switching back to crib fun and see what happens.  And honestly, I'm giving him water.  He is obviously healthy.  And maybe water will be the trick.  I have heard it works for other people. I know I am not alone in this not-sleeping baby thing, but it feels like it some days.

Niece slept through the night at 10 weeks.    Sister and her DH did the 3 minutes crying the first night, 5 the next, etc etc etc and swore it worked.  But see, patting P on the back and soothing does not work.  He has to be picked back up.  And without bottle/boob, he screams.  Or...wakes up and plays.  Soooo....yeah.  Do I just accept that I may never sleep again?

I hate assvice.  And I know he should be sleeping at some point.  And I don't want to totally override his natural rhythms.  But more than 2 hours at a time would be nice.  Y'know?  So, please, I am taking suggestions. 

P.S.  I tried the water.  It went like this: suck suck WAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH.  So, fail.

6 comments:

  1. I wish i had some form of advice for you. We're having our own problems with sleep here, too. Not quite the same, but similar. I refuse to do CIO. I did it ONE TIME, for not even 5 minutes, the other afternoon for naptime while i tried to get him to nap in his crib. He slept for 40, and then woke up and started all over again. I couldn't do it, so i let him sleep on my lap, and he slept beautifully.

    My boy will only fall asleep if he has a boobie/bottle in his mouth, too. I do bottle right before bed, but i refuse to do more bottles throughout the night, although i do nurse him back to sleep EVERY SINGLE TIME he wakes up at night, which can be anywhere from 2 to 10 times a night. Luckily he passes back out in a minute or two, but this is preventing us from using the crib. So we cosleep, and it's wearing on our entire family.

    I've actually been working on a blog post about this, too. I've started it 3 times, maybe today i'll finish and post it.

    I hope you find something that works. *hugs*

    (@mamadaisiey on Twitter)

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  2. I totally sympathize with what you're going through. I so remember being at that point where I needed to sleep or I feared I might actually die from severe sleep deprivation.

    So do you think he's waking up because he's truly hungry or just wants your company along with the comfort of a bottle? If you think he's truly hungry, he could be going through a growth spurt which thank God is only temporary.

    The other thing is I'm not sure if you're feeding on demand or not but with my babies, I had to keep a schedule for my sanity. I fed them more often throughout the day, like a 6-8 oz bottle every 3 hours on the dot.

    Also, I can't remember if your baby is on solids yet. If he is, you can try giving him a serving of cereal mixed with veggies along with a bottle a short while before bedtime.

    The sleep deprivation is the hardest part. I hope you find something that works for you so you can catch up on some zzzz's very soon!

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  3. Oh, dear, I am so sorry for you! If it makes it any easier, we've been through worse at that age and we are only now at 2-4 wake ups a night. Apparently there is a sting of unfortunate circumstances against sound sleeping in this house, teething, vaccine reaction, cold, bad star alignment, you name it, I blame it. Alright, it was better before, but right now, we're back in the tranches.
    I don't have to go to work, so that helps. But otherwise, I have no advice. I can guarantee that this is just a stage and that it will pass, but I can't tell you when and this sucks, because you need sleep now, I know it.
    As regards the nightime feeding - you can slowly wean him, by eliminating one feeding at a time, but this means that in the beginning, it will take longer to get him to sleep without it. I think it took me two weeks (approx) to get to no night feedings, and when I had to wean, it was done in exactly two weeks and a half. He does not wake because he needs feeding, he wakes because his internal sleep mechanism is fucked up and I just can't fix it.
    And don't worry about chunky monkey - the moment he starts toddling, the fat is literally gone in no time. But just when he starts walking, for real, not one step here and there. It will come too soon, you'll see. Until then, take plenty of photos and videos of those thunder thighs, you will miss them so...

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  4. I so feel your pain, my guy is almost 10 months old and I play the same game every night. We've tried the water thing and I get the same response suck suck, scream. I wish I had an answer, and I hope you find something that works soon and Mama can get some sleep.

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  5. I'm in the same boat. Hate CIO. Hate not sleeping. Only thing that works is when he's snuggled in between us all night long, nursing at will. No advise, looking for some myself :)

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  6. At this point it's not so much that he's hungry overnight by that his body is conditioned to want food at that time. I've talked to other moms with this problem and rather than switch cold turkey to water it may work to gradually decrease the amount he's getting. So, start with the first bottle and give him an ounce or two less every few days until he's not getting anything. Once he's not used to getting filled up at that feeding he will be more likely to sleep through. At first he will still wake because he's not used to sleeping through, but hopefully you'll be able to pacify him without food.

    You also may want to look at his nap schedule during the day. Too much or too little daytime sleep could be affecting his sleep rhythms. My favorite sleep resource is Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth. It does not specifically advocate a certain method but talks a lot about scheduling and sleep windows.

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