Last night I said to Josh "at least after a really bad night I know the next one won't be as bad. He never sleeps so badly two nights in a row".
Wrong.
Wren had his worst non-hospital night ever. Despite dosing him with Zantac and then infant tylenol (in case its teething) he woke: 8.30pm, 9.30pm, 11.45pm, 1.45am, 3am, 3.20am, 4.20am, 5am, 6am and was up at 6.30am. He went to nap again at 8am.
Other than saying "something is wrong" I can't understand it and am really at my wits end. He nursed to sleep easily 3 times (bedtime, 3am and 5am), went to sleep by being held twice, and once went to sleep sucking the binky with me holding it in place. That took 30 minutes.
Josh helped a lot and was awake most of those wakings, as was I. Neither of us feels too frisky this morning and we had a fight at 6.20am which began like this:
Me [angrily after 20 minutes of holding the binky for Wren to fuss on]: Well DON'T take the binky then. (throwing the binky across the room)
Josh: [wakes up groggily]
Wren starts to cry loudly.
Me: [crossly] Okay, okay, I'll get up then.
Josh: Isn't that why you went to bed early? This is when you get up anyway?
Me: [very upset and angry with the universe] Not 6.30. Not when I've had no sleep. If I get him back to sleep he'll sleep another hour. At least YOU get 3 hours more sleep.
[I scoop up Wren and stalk out the room and plonk him in the swinging chair in the living room where he sits happily chewing his hand and looking around. I go out the back door and sit on the back steps feeling hateful. This lasts about 5 minutes until I notice its a beautiful morning with birds and sunrise and a vegetable garden and I wake up fully and go back inside to make coffee. At this point Joshua gets up. he is cross and feels the "at least you get 3 hours sleep" comment means I am angry he is sleeping. I tell him to go back to bed and then we fight about that for a while. It takes 15 minutes before everyone is not-upset and not-half-asleep. Josh sits wrapped in a blanket blowing bubbles at Wren who is very proud to be blowing bubbles back.]
It seems that this is taking a toll on everyone except Wren but as I said to Josh, there is really no solution I can see. Tonight I am going to sleep in the spare room until 1.30am so I should have one stretch of 3 hours to give me more good humour for the hourly treadmill therafter.
I checked Wren's mouth a number of times in desperate hope of finding a tooth but there is no sign that I can interpret.
I hope the clinic goes well.
1 comment:
A long time lurker, making my first post.
Can I ever sympathize with your sleep problems! Brynn was such as terrible sleeper, I actually made a little chart where I recorded each night how often she woke. The little wake marks on the chart look so innocent now, but I remember that frustrated and helpless feeling. I kept the chart for 7 months - first for sleep, then feeding (since she was bottle fed). It seemed a little neurotic, but somehow I got satisfacation out of being able to point at the chart and say, "see, she woke up every two hours on this night, and this night, and this night."
I also went to some sort of post-partum therapist that I just about wanted to kill. She said "don't you think you're just a little tired?" It felt like more than that. It felt like my life was upside down.
The good news, in our case, sleep evened out around four months. I don't know why, I don't recall any special trick. The pattern shifted from most nights she woke frequently, and a few she slept through - to - most nights she slept through and a few she woke frequently. I even remember your same comment a week ago - "Yeah, now she's a sleeper!" to "that didn't last long. What happened."
So, hang in there. This will get better. Your dues are nearly paid. You're going to have a sleeper - really, it will happen.
Lynn
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