There is something in the air this week, I can assure you of that (and yes, I do realize it's only Monday!!!!) I know I'm about to sound obnoxious, and I KNOW that most of you out there will think I'm a HUGE JERK for complaining about this...
BUT
My three and a half month old is driving me BANANAS! She (brace yourself...) slept through the night for 5 weeks straight up until Thanksgiving weekend and now she's out of control. She gives us grief when she goes to sleep and she wakes up 2, 3, 4 times a night. Yes...I know, that's what 3 month-olds do. I get it. But please understand my frustration when she did sleep through the night for 5 consecutive weeks. Okay. I know I'm spoiled. What three month old sleeps through the night??? But I can tell you this for sure. She WILL NOT DO IT ANYMORE! Last night was a doozy. We made the mistake of putting her to bed early (and when I mean early, I mean we put her to bed at 10 minutes to 9:00pm). This time, she went to bed without issue...and then the beast awoke. She started screaming and screaming. There was nothing I could do to settle her. I tried feeding her, but she was disinterested. My husband rocked her and bounced her and finally...she fell asleep...for one hour! And then she was up AGAIN! When she wasn't waking us up every hour and a half, it was my son who must've decided to get in on the action too (he was probably woken up by the racket she was making). Needless to say the adults in our household are very tired and at our wits end.
That's what lead us to the "crying out" attempt. Yes, I know...it's bloody early to let your baby cry it out. You don't have to tell me. But we had tried everything in our power and it was a last resort! So, she cried. And I winced. And she cried...Now, she only cried for 4 minutes...but as most moms know, 4 minutes of a screaming child is like an eternity. She fell asleep. And she slept. BUT only for two hours, and then cried again. So I fed her. And she slept. For an hour. And then my husband bounced her. And she slept...and so on and so forth.
So, what I'm trying to figure out is if it's too early to actually start sleep training the little one. I've completely given up on my preschooler. I've lived with his terrible sleep routine for this long, so I'm not going to even bother trying to work out a new schedule for him. Anyway, I know there are many schools of thought on sleep training. Most sleep doulas won't even speak to parents until their child is 4 months old. Other people say that a baby's stomach isn't big enough for them to truly sleep through the night until they're at least 6 months old (that's obviously a fallacy because mine had no issue up until now), then you have all of the sleep training books that say that you should start training them from birth. There's also the possibility that my little girl is just going through a growth spurt and, although she doesn't appear to be hungry, she really is and her empty belly is waking her up every few hours for a top up. But if that's the case, how long does one wait for this "so called" growth spurt to finish? And how do I know that this isn't becoming her new routine? What should I do?
Now, although you may not sympathize with my current plight, I'm sure you all can sympathize with the feeling one gets when they're sleep deprived. It makes you crazy! So, any advice you can send me would be greatly appreciated!
And to add to my unfortunate circumstances, after 2 successful weeks of nursery school drop-offs, this is the morning that my son decided he didn't really feel like going. He was psyched to go all morning, but once we walked up to the door and he saw his teacher, he changed his mind. I tried to talk some sense into him, telling him that he loved nursery school and all of his friends were going to be there to have fun with, but he grabbed me around the neck and wouldn't let go. It took both me and the teacher to pry him off, while other mothers walked by with understanding in their eyes. It just seems strange that he's never had an issue before today. The teacher assured me that she would call if there was any problem (and I haven't heard the phone ring...yet...). I'm just wondering if it's all a symptom of his lack of sleep last night. (At least that's what I'm hoping).
Please tell me this week is only going to get better?
Now for my weekly weight loss report:
Starting Weight: 148.8 lbs
Current Weight: 144.4 lbs
(Ugh! Not even a ounce lost this week. I guess it's my own fault for going gangbusters last week. Looks like I should be celebrating Thanksgiving more often!!!!)
Goal Weight: 130 lbs
Dream Weight: 125 lbs
Tonight is my first night back on Kickboxing after my tragic neck incident. Hopefully I don't puke! And hopefully my next week's weigh in will be a little more eventful than this one. Otherwise my Christmas dream is never going to happen.
PS - It looks like I'm not the only one suffering from this...but it also appears that there isn't a heck of a lot to be done about it either...Please click here to read an article about babies and their fickle sleep cycles
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