Thursday, January 11, 2007

Sleeping in short snatches

If anyone knows what gives babies gas, I am keen to know. Wren wants to nurse constantly. Half the time he wants to eat the rest of the time it is to help him pass gas. He latches on, gets an intent look, goes red with exertion and then makes the most godawful farting noise. Its like a jet engine. Then he goes back to sleep. Last night - another night of no more than (and often less than) 90 minutes of sleep in a row - I decided to investigate what was going on and noticed that he doesn't actually wake crying. He wakes grunting and writhing and working something out and for most of these wake-ups he just wants to latch on for a short while before passing out again.

So, I think that the tummy discomfit is waking him. Its certainly waking him from naps in the daytime too.

I have cut out a lot of dairy from my diet but still have been eating cheese (in particular goat cheese) so perhaps I should be more vigilant in that regard since Frost had a dairy allergy until he was 4 years old. Still, with Frost is showed up as eczema and diarrhea later on. Ho hum. Cheese is such a treat for me but so is sleep.

Frost wanted to sleep in the wedge today. I told him he was too big so he ran into the bedroom and fake cried into the baby monitor. He is very good natured about it but he clearly wants some of the baby-attention.

Now, with all my sleeplessness why am I awake? Its always a delicate balance between insanity from having no time to myself and insanity from sleep deprivation. I think the balance has been struck and I am off to bed.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Shan! I just read your update and wanted to share that my lactation nurse recommended Mylicon Gas Drops to us, and they seem to work well for Christian. When he's fussy, and farting, I give him a small dose and he settles. She said they are safe and all natural and just basically break down the big gas bubbles into managable ones for those little tummies. You can also try camomile tea?!?! Again, recommended to me by the nurse- He loved the taste, and it gave him a almost immediate poop.
OK one last thing, are you swaddling? I've found that to be my savior through the day and night. I resisted it for a long while, but now that we do it, those "grunts" don't wake him any longer, which keeps me from being a human pacifier, you kwim.
OK I've given enough info and am off for sleep, part 2. Glad to hear things are going so good for you, the prayers are working! Much luv, I hear grunting here, gotta go...

Bex :D

Anonymous said...

Hey Shannon,
Just had lunch with cousin jane Macduff who sends love and all the best. Has been hearing and wishing you all the best for the last few weeks. Lovely weather here and still wating to find out Orion's next move. Love David

Shannon said...

Thanks Bex
I shall try the drops and tea. Did you put it in a bottle or just a bit in a dropper? Hrmm.. perhaps this is a question for my naturopath. I got up at 7am after about an hour of light sleep while Mr Grunty grunted and strained every 5 minutes IN HIS SLEEP. He is much happier now we are up but I am not.

To top it all its a SNOW CLOSURE day so no school for Frost which is also a major NAP CLOSURE for me.

Okay, now for my one cup of decaf for the day.

Shannon said...

David
Thanks for passing on the good wishes from Jane. I hope Orion has a plan soon... we are all waiting to see what his next move is.