First she drove me crazy these past few days by refusing to sleep more than 30 minutes at a stretch. Not counting nighttime, but still. Do you know how hard it is to get ANYTHING done when your 10 week old baby is only sleeping 30 minutes at a time, every 2 or 3 hours? It is really, really hard.
Because you can't just pop them in the swing and walk away, you see. Babies have lightning-quick attention spans. So you must constantly be entertaining them with a rotating succession of positions, toys, movements, etc.
Here, for your entertainment, is a sample of what Sadie's schedule is like over the course of a couple hours when she is feeling particularly sleepless, snacky and cantankerous:
- Feed
- Burp
- Diaper Change
- Smile at silly faces on the changing table
- Change outfits (then cry)
- Get lotion put on dry spots (then cry)
- On boppy pillow on top of the bed, more silly faces
- Stare at rattle being shaken in face, whack with hand
- Cry
- Sit in bouncy seat, stare at purple hippo
- Cry
- Lie face-up on play mat, stare at flashing lights
- Flipped over for tummy time on play mat
- Cry after 2 minutes on tummy
- Feed again
- Burp
- Into swing
- Cry after 10 minutes in swing
- Placed into "Moby wrap" carrier while Mom does chores around the house
- Wriggle and fuss
- Taken out of Moby, wrapped in blanket and bounced in Mom's arms on yoga ball
- After flirting with sleep, decide instead to barf all over self, onesie, and Mom's arm
- Back to the changing table for onesie change, cry because tired
- Wrapped back in blanket and bounced some more
- Drift off to sleep
- Wake up 30 minutes later and DO IT ALL AGAIN
So this has been my last two days. Can you blame a girl for wishing, a few fleeting moments at a time, that she still lived the quiet, productive, childless life? Luckily, Sadie decided to make up for it on Wednesday night by giving me the best gift I could ever have asked for:
She slept for TEN AND A HALF HOURS straight.
Can I just bask in smugness, just for a tiny minute?
Okay, I'm done. No, wait:
OHMYGODOURBABYISAWESOME.
Okay, NOW I'm done.
Have you heard of the 90 Minute Sleep Solution? Saved our lives when we were going through the same thing! Basically, a baby's sleep cycle dictates that 90 minutes after they wake from a nap, they should be down for their next nap. It doesn't matter if the nap lasted 20 minutes or two hours, 90 minutes after waking you get them back to sleep. Works like magic on Veronica. Her naps are longer and more consistant, and she got better evening sleep - though nothing like your 10+ hours, which makes me TOTALLY JEALOUS!!
ReplyDeleteHi VJ,
ReplyDeleteI love the 90 Minute Sleep Solution! I tried it right around the 6 week point and was amazed to see how well it worked. I do try to stick to it, and when I do she sleeps much better in general. The problem is that I'm bad with keeping her on a strict routine -- there are always things getting in the way like last-minute visits from family, errand-running that runs late, etc. etc.
Have you read any other baby sleep books and would you recommend them?
I think I jinxed myself by writing the 10-hour blog entry, because the next night she woke up at 1am and 5am, just to keep me on my toes.