Out of the Woods
It's funny. You can read all the parenting books, work by trial and error, coparent with the same family for the better part of ten years, and your child will still throw you for loops.
Sleeping has never been our Felix's strongest suit. He's one of those babies who really does need to learn good sleeping habits, and it's been a pretty steep curve for all of us, trying to find the best method.
Just in the last week, he's figured out that it's possible to fall asleep on his own without fifteen minutes of weeping and thrashing in his bed, and it's like a miracle. To nurse him, read him a story, sing two lullabyes and put him down in the crib, and not hear a peep again for nine solid hours is the beginning of a return to sanity and some kind of rational mental function again. I feel good most mornings, which is something I'd actually forgotten was possible.
I hit bottom last Wednesday, after a once successful quasi-Ferberization had been unlearned while he was sick. He wasn't napping, and consequently had no patience for anything, and wasn't sleeping well at night because of the lack of quality meals and naps, and I was losing my mind. I'd been reading yet another parenting book, and the suggested schedule for a child his age was impossible to make happen with my work obligations, and I was tired and alone at home with him. By the time he finally cried himself to sleep - two hours after I initially tried to put him down, I was sobbing on my bedroom floor, with a tsunami of a headache washing in.
And then, I sat down and looked at it like I was his nanny. I could smack myself for not being rational sooner! I wrote out my daily schedule at work, and the "ideal" schedule in parallel columns and tweaked the times until I had something workable with a little room for flexing, and I just went and implemented it.
Now, for nearly 6 days, I have had a cheerful, rested, satiated baby, and it's delightlful! I can only hope it will last, and that it will adapt as needed because I could be fun again if this keeps up!
Sleeping has never been our Felix's strongest suit. He's one of those babies who really does need to learn good sleeping habits, and it's been a pretty steep curve for all of us, trying to find the best method.
Just in the last week, he's figured out that it's possible to fall asleep on his own without fifteen minutes of weeping and thrashing in his bed, and it's like a miracle. To nurse him, read him a story, sing two lullabyes and put him down in the crib, and not hear a peep again for nine solid hours is the beginning of a return to sanity and some kind of rational mental function again. I feel good most mornings, which is something I'd actually forgotten was possible.
I hit bottom last Wednesday, after a once successful quasi-Ferberization had been unlearned while he was sick. He wasn't napping, and consequently had no patience for anything, and wasn't sleeping well at night because of the lack of quality meals and naps, and I was losing my mind. I'd been reading yet another parenting book, and the suggested schedule for a child his age was impossible to make happen with my work obligations, and I was tired and alone at home with him. By the time he finally cried himself to sleep - two hours after I initially tried to put him down, I was sobbing on my bedroom floor, with a tsunami of a headache washing in.
And then, I sat down and looked at it like I was his nanny. I could smack myself for not being rational sooner! I wrote out my daily schedule at work, and the "ideal" schedule in parallel columns and tweaked the times until I had something workable with a little room for flexing, and I just went and implemented it.
Now, for nearly 6 days, I have had a cheerful, rested, satiated baby, and it's delightlful! I can only hope it will last, and that it will adapt as needed because I could be fun again if this keeps up!
Labels: Baby on Board
posted by Cameron | 10:31 AM
3 Comments:
Congrats for finally making it over that hump. Up next: sleeping throught the night, feeling rested and no guilt! Man I miss those days, I didn't appreciate them enough when I got them back last time. This time I will for sure! Congrats Again - Katie
Yay! Thank God for small miracles like sleep. I once read somewhere that the sleep deprivation that a parent of a young child experiences, night after night over just a weeks period of time, can cause effects similar to insanity.
Yay!!! A sleeping baby! I'm glad you were able to step back and use your experience the way you did. That's very hard when you're so tired. Lullaby... and good night.... with roses bedight..... hmmmmm hmmmmm hmmmmm.... samm
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