Whew, it is hard to find internet time! I have The Baby Who Will Not Be Put Down. I really do. Every time my family is around, all they can talk about is what a wonderful, calm, contented baby she is...and how much she sleeps! Which pisses me off because she does tend to save her really angsty fits for when no one else is around. But I finally realized that this is because when everyone is around, there is always someone to hold her, whereas when I am alone or just Mario and I are at home, there are times that we want to...I don't know...PEE. Or EAT. Or maybe, just maybe, internet for a minute. But no, Squidget will have none of that. We put her down at the risk of our eardrums.
This goes for nights too. Every day, my guilt grows about the sleeping thing. I KNOW I need to be trying to get her to sleep in the bassinet, and I KNOW she needs to be sleeping on her back. But how am I supposed to make that happen, when it seems like the only place she will ever rest for more than ten minutes is curled up on my chest? Literally, every night at bed time I have this total mental crisis of what to do tonight. If I try to sleep with her in the bedroom, she does not end up in the bassinet. She fusses and cries, and I am already so exhausted, that I have no fortitude to try to make her cry it out. Besides, she is so young I am not sure making her cry it out is even a good idea, as several of the books I've read say that for the first four months, babies have to be taught that they can trust you. Besides, when we stay in the bedroom with her, BOTH of us get no sleep.
The alternative, and usually what we end up doing, is for one of us to stay out in the living room, sleeping with her in the Lazy-Boy, where of course she sleeps on her stomach on my stomach. It just feels wrong to spend every night in a lazy-boy. I MISS my BED. Plus, she's sleeping on her stomach! Augh! When we try to lull her into sleep on her stomach...then ever-so-carefully transfer her to her back in the bassinet...yep that fails too. She has a sensor that tells her when she is not being doted on. And the sensor alarm sounds like this: WHHHHHAAAAAAAAA!
The other bummer is that I've recently realized that when Mario stays out with her at night, she actually goes four hours or even a little more sometimes between feedings, whereas when I do, it's every two hours still. Probably because she smells me and gets reminded of MILK. Now that I know this, it's like temptation, evil temptation to make Mario take ALL of the midnight duties...and he is such a great father and husband that he probably would! But I know that is wrong. Especially since he is the one who has to work all day, whereas I have some part-day obligations but get to spend a lot more time at home...rarely do I get to take a nap, but at least I don't have to be on my game, performing, productive.
R.I.P. Sleep. You've been reincarnated as Scarlett. I love Scarlett more. But Sleep, you will always hold a dear spot in my heart.
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2 comments:
I SO UNDERSTAND. We went through a phase that the only good day sleep Henry would do was on me. When I talked about it on my blog I had a lot of great advice, but it really did just take time. Right around 3 monthsish he started showing more sleep independence and when that happens it will take some work but they will sleep on their own. I know it's hard when they're not sleeping, because then you're not sleeping. So take naps with her. Let her sleep on you, and you sleep too because now at almost 5 months old he takes decent naps for me but no longer WANTS to sleep on me. which is good, but sad=(. So I would just say enjoy the snuggly newborn phase. It really does end as quick as it began.
So not having a baby ...I think Lori just gave the best advice. It will get better for now enjoy her snuggles.
From what I saw the other night ... you guys both look pretty alert and happy ... maybe you are doing just that. :)
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