The Crib Chronicles: Day 2
Brennan stayed asleep the first night for six hours, then woke up at 5:30. He nursed and I tried putting him back in the crib a couple of times, but of course he kept freaking out. At 7 I gave up, put on the happiest demeanor I could muster and told him it was morning now and he'd done a good job. I changed his outfit, played with him, gave him kisses, did everything I could to emphasize the difference between how we act in daytime and how we act at night. He fell back asleep on the breast by the time I was halfway through my English muffin. I put him in the bouncy seat for naps all day like I planned to. He napped well but was a bit fussier than usual all day, and by 9pm he was SO tired. I didn't forcibly keep him awake at all during the day, he just seemed to be suffering the after effects of a short night. At 9 we went into nighttime mode again. This time it took two hours, which is a slight improvement over the first night. We tried swaddling him (several people bugged us to try this) and all it did was piss him off. We tried giving him a pacifier but he could barely keep it in his mouth- not because of tiredness, but because he can't seem to maintain the sucking motion lately and usually just sucks on his hands instead. Blair brilliantly remembered the music box that's attached to his crib, which eventually was the clincher that put him to sleep. I've heard differing opinions about whether it's a good idea to use music as a sleep trigger, but at this point if it works I'm willing to say screw differing opinions. We're not sure if the elevated mattress deal is worth it or not, because he seems to be able to sleep on a level without his head elevated. Maybe elevated would make him sleep longer? I don't know. He did another solid six hour block last night, then woke up at five. I nursed him and put him back down, and he stayed asleep for a good ten or fifteen minutes after that. Long enough for me to use the bathroom and get nice and comfortable back in bed before he woke up and got restless. I heard him wake up, move around, then fall back asleep three or four times. Then he woke up and couldn't fall back asleep and the fuss escalated until I finally picked him up and nursed again. When I put him back down the same thing happened: fuss, catnap, fuss, catnap, fuss, escalate. By then it was 7, so I put on my happy face and said good morning. I was rewarded with a hell of an awesome baby smile, plus some funny babble noises that were alternatively flirtatious and scolding. He got a new diaper and a new outfit, play and tickling etc like yesterday, then once again fell asleep on the breast halfway through my English muffin. He's currently napping (not in the crib), and I'm off to join him. Yawn.