A very wise friend once said to me: "Children are either good sleepers or good eaters. But they are never both". Her words sounded so true. My sons have always been great eaters.
It sucks that I have finally ended up writing a sleep related post. I have been so reluctant to do it, because I always get to be the mom that always listens to people complain about their kids who only sleep 11 HOURS at night and have the audacity to wake up TWICE a night and only nap for 2 hours uninterrupted. Everybody is outraged when they listen to things like that. Meanwhile I am hiding in a corner hoping, praying, begging that no one will ask me how my kids sleep. Because that would be embarrassing.... beyond embarrassing, pitiful!... borderline shameful. So, I took it upon myself to never ask somebody how their kids sleep. Partly because I want to spare myself from confirming once more how badly my kids sleep, but mostly because I don't want to be the one who gets to make them feel better about their situation.
The first year of sleep with Paulo was so bad, that I thought this time around I'd be redeemed. I would have the perfect sleeper who would effortlessly fall asleep in my arms without me even noticing. Ha! yes, I am that naïve.
Actually, sleep wasn't so bad the first months with Emilio, but now that he has reached 7 months, and specifically in the last week or two, something seems to be happening. In the last few days he has been refusing to sleep like it is his job. he goes to sleep for about 10 or 15 minutes while I nurse him when I am putting his older brother to sleep, and when I take him away to lay him down, he wakes up and looks at me with a smile bigger than batman's joker. I try to get him back to sleep, rest, try again, and so the circus continues on and off for up to 5 or 6 hours when I finally give up. And yes, he is pissy the rest of the day because he hasn't had any sleep since the morning.
I have tried rocking him, nursing him, putting him in the stroller, in the sling, leaving him alone in the crib, rubbing his back, you name it. It. doesn't. work. I don't know if he just doesn't want to go to sleep or if there is something deeper going on, like maybe he's teething and in pain or maybe his schedule is changing to one nap a day? although Paulo didn't do this until muco older, and I really don't think he would make it all morning without a nap....
AAARRGGG babyhood.... I seriously do NOT enjoy this part of the 1st year. I thought it was supposed to be easier this time around... oh well, I know he will outgrow this phase eventually...
And then what do you know? he fell asleep in the sling while I typed this while standing up... sigh....
No comments:
Post a Comment