When we discussed becoming parents for a fourth time, one of the things I considered was the fact that I knew we would be reverting back to a time of less than eight hours of sleep a night. Waking up every 3 hours to feed a newborn is expected (and if your baby slept through the night at two weeks, please don't tell me). What I didn't expect was for all of the older kids to suddenly start waking up in the middle of the night and needing comfort. A quick drink or help using the potty, sure. But needing someone by their side for oh, say, half an hour? Not on my agenda.
Luckily, Mr. MOTH has really stepped up to the plate and usually gets up with the boys and hangs out until they're back to sleep. Baby Girl, however, has taken this whole thing to a new level. She wakes up sobbing for me and doesn't really want to be pacified by her daddy. Last night was un-real. Little One was up around 12:30 for her midnight snack. Around 1AM, Baby Girl woke up. I went in and laid on her floor for a little while and then did my usual "I need to check on your sister. I'll be right back." More often than not, this appeases her and she goes back to sleep alone. Last night, no dice. I finally gave up and brought her in our bed. BIG MISTAKE!
She played around UNTIL 5 AM!! At which point I had finally had enough and I took her back to her crib and laid on her floor until she was asleep (10 minutes). My bursitis in my hips is killing me (why, yes, I am really frickin' old) and my back just isn't quite right. And when I complained about my hips this morning, Oldest Boy asked, "What are your hips?" I pointed to them and said, "They're my biggest part." Oldest Boy said, "No. Your bum is definitely your biggest part!" {SIGH}
And right now I am waiting patiently for Baby Girl to take a nap. For the love of all that is holy, why isn't she sleeping?!?! Seriously, she's been in their for nearly 45 minutes and she's still awake!! I've always made fun of people who feel the need to medicate their children for a moment's peace, but I can hear that bottle of Benadryl calling right about now!
4 comments:
That just sounds miserable! Mack didn't sleep through the night until he was 17 months, BUT I was lucky in that Wynnie has almost always been a good sleeper. She had a few phases where I'd have to "sleep" on her floor, only to do the army crawl out as soon as I thought she was asleep.
I still do the "I have to go check on Mack" trick when I just can't get away from her at bedtime. She's almost always asleep within a few minutes and doesn't notice I don't return.
UGG! I am so sorry! Thank goodness we have only had a few of those nights. Briar is on the verge of sleeping through the night - right now she is killing me with wanting to nurse at 5:00 a.m. - she goes back to sleep, but the big kids are up at 6:00 . . . which mean Mommy is up as well.
We're going through the same thing over here. Seriously. Blech.
Let's hope this sleep regression stuff ends soon.
Oh, man. That sounds exhausting.
Careful with the Benadryl though! Sometime kids have the opposite reaction and end up getting extremely hyper!
Things well getter better soon! I hope.
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