to bed, to bed
Bao and I are sleeping poorly these days, the both of us. Falling asleep every night now is a challenge for her - on a good night, it's just mild fussing, but on average she mostly screams and cries until she falls asleep, and no amount of patting, cuddling, or shushing will work. It just makes her even more furious. After she finally goes down, she sleeps with more crying on and off. I have come to the conclusion that she's a little drama queen so if the slightest thing is bothering her (e.g. she decides she does not like her pyjamas!) she will cry as though she has been mortally wounded, and then roll over and go right back to sound sleep.
Unfortunately for me, in the middle of the night, she has begun waking for milk. Now that she can sign milk (and say it, too, if she wants), there's no pretending I don't understand what she wants, no flipping over to the other side faking sleep while hoping she gives up and goes to sleep too. It's just easier to get up, make her a bottle, and put her back to bed when she's done. I timed it one night and it took about four minutes from start to finish. That's a lot less fuss than trying to convince her to lie down and go back to sleep. On good nights, she will chug down the milk and get back into bed. On bad nights, she cries when I put her down and grizzles until she falls asleep again. Either way, by the time I've finished feeding her, I'm semi-awake and it takes me some time to go back to sleep myself.
But after what feels like minutes' worth of sleep, she's up again at dawn, usually 6am or so, throwing her duck and pacifier out of the crib and fussing and asking for more milk. MORE? She ate less often at night as an infant than she does now. I stumble awake and make her another bottle, hoping that this will send her back to sleep so that the rest of us can steal another hour of rest. But she doesn't. For some reason she has decided that her internal alarm clock is now calibrated at 6am (6.30am if we're lucky) and that is her cue to stand in her crib alternately crying and shouting 'UP UP UP!'
J or I will bring her into bed with us but it's no use; she treats our bed as a playground and has no intention of sleeping or even snuggling quietly with us. She rolls around in-between us, tries to climb the headboard, or pokes us in the face. Even if we could sleep through it, we can't because if left to entertain herself, she would go straight to her brother's room to wake him for the day, but I don't want her to do this because he needs his sleep to tackle a full day of school. So the zombie parents end up half-heartedly entertaining her in their bed before they finally rise for the day. Today, as the morning slowly brightened, she sat and flashed us her biggest cheeky grin. I wanted to sigh, but smiled instead. Maybe I should just start drinking coffee again.
During a nap.
We had it really, really, good with The Bun and sleep and I have never underestimated this. The Bun would go to bed around 10 or 10.30pm at night and wake the next morning around 9.30am, and that mostly because I prodded him awake. Even after that, he would lounge around in bed snuggling with his loveys until I really had to cajole or drag him out of bed. He sleeps soundly and like a log. Of course he has the usual night waking issues revolving around bad dreams, stuffed noses or tangled sheets, but generally he can be relied on to sleep well.
Thing is, I know Bao is capable of sleeping through the night because she has done it before. I'm wondering if this is a growth spurt and she needs more feeding up during the day, but no matter how much she eats for her solid meals, she still wants, and finishes, her two bottles of midnight milk. She may be thirsty since the heating makes everything dry. She may have come to expect milk to soothe her back to sleep when she wakes. She may be teething. She may just be a bad sleeper and there's nothing I can do about it. Cutting down on her nap duration doesn't work. Putting her to bed later doesn't work, and makes her even crankier in the morning because she wouldn't have slept enough.
Pretending to sleep!
I joked to J that she may just be jumping ahead of the clock and switching herself to Daylight Saving hours weeks before it's time to actually spring forward. It's just a phase, right? Right? I probably just need to get with the programme and acknowledge that we struck gold in the sleep stakes with The Bun and now we must suck it up along with the millions of parents with crack-of-dawn children and dark rings beneath their eyes. I fantasise about sleeping through the night in blissful silence, checking into a hotel alone and staying in bed for the entire time.
And so, to bed I now go. Wish me luck!
Unfortunately for me, in the middle of the night, she has begun waking for milk. Now that she can sign milk (and say it, too, if she wants), there's no pretending I don't understand what she wants, no flipping over to the other side faking sleep while hoping she gives up and goes to sleep too. It's just easier to get up, make her a bottle, and put her back to bed when she's done. I timed it one night and it took about four minutes from start to finish. That's a lot less fuss than trying to convince her to lie down and go back to sleep. On good nights, she will chug down the milk and get back into bed. On bad nights, she cries when I put her down and grizzles until she falls asleep again. Either way, by the time I've finished feeding her, I'm semi-awake and it takes me some time to go back to sleep myself.
But after what feels like minutes' worth of sleep, she's up again at dawn, usually 6am or so, throwing her duck and pacifier out of the crib and fussing and asking for more milk. MORE? She ate less often at night as an infant than she does now. I stumble awake and make her another bottle, hoping that this will send her back to sleep so that the rest of us can steal another hour of rest. But she doesn't. For some reason she has decided that her internal alarm clock is now calibrated at 6am (6.30am if we're lucky) and that is her cue to stand in her crib alternately crying and shouting 'UP UP UP!'
J or I will bring her into bed with us but it's no use; she treats our bed as a playground and has no intention of sleeping or even snuggling quietly with us. She rolls around in-between us, tries to climb the headboard, or pokes us in the face. Even if we could sleep through it, we can't because if left to entertain herself, she would go straight to her brother's room to wake him for the day, but I don't want her to do this because he needs his sleep to tackle a full day of school. So the zombie parents end up half-heartedly entertaining her in their bed before they finally rise for the day. Today, as the morning slowly brightened, she sat and flashed us her biggest cheeky grin. I wanted to sigh, but smiled instead. Maybe I should just start drinking coffee again.
During a nap.
We had it really, really, good with The Bun and sleep and I have never underestimated this. The Bun would go to bed around 10 or 10.30pm at night and wake the next morning around 9.30am, and that mostly because I prodded him awake. Even after that, he would lounge around in bed snuggling with his loveys until I really had to cajole or drag him out of bed. He sleeps soundly and like a log. Of course he has the usual night waking issues revolving around bad dreams, stuffed noses or tangled sheets, but generally he can be relied on to sleep well.
Thing is, I know Bao is capable of sleeping through the night because she has done it before. I'm wondering if this is a growth spurt and she needs more feeding up during the day, but no matter how much she eats for her solid meals, she still wants, and finishes, her two bottles of midnight milk. She may be thirsty since the heating makes everything dry. She may have come to expect milk to soothe her back to sleep when she wakes. She may be teething. She may just be a bad sleeper and there's nothing I can do about it. Cutting down on her nap duration doesn't work. Putting her to bed later doesn't work, and makes her even crankier in the morning because she wouldn't have slept enough.
Pretending to sleep!
I joked to J that she may just be jumping ahead of the clock and switching herself to Daylight Saving hours weeks before it's time to actually spring forward. It's just a phase, right? Right? I probably just need to get with the programme and acknowledge that we struck gold in the sleep stakes with The Bun and now we must suck it up along with the millions of parents with crack-of-dawn children and dark rings beneath their eyes. I fantasise about sleeping through the night in blissful silence, checking into a hotel alone and staying in bed for the entire time.
And so, to bed I now go. Wish me luck!