Cameron has been going through this new phase for the past week. He's pretty predictable...Kevin calls him Clockwork Orange. He wakes up, I feed him, change his diaper, re-swaddle him, and then he's ready to go back to sleep. It takes about 10-15 minutes to rock him back to sleep, and then he's down for about 3 hours. So we're on a rotating 4 hour schedule. Not too bad. To make things better, he's started sleeping a little longer at night, which is wonderful.
The not so wonderful new development is he has started refusing to go to sleep in the evening. So he and I do this routine all day, then at his early evening feeding (sometime between 6pm and 8pm) we feed him, change him, swaddle him up and then he stares at us for the next 3 hours. No amount of rocking will lull him to sleep. But he's tired... if we try to play with him he gets all cranky. He just lays on a pillow, swaddled like a little bundle, sucking on his pacifier, staring. He'll occasionally doze off, but if we try to lay him down in his crib he wakes up crying and it only escalates until we pick him up and return him to the pillow on the couch where he continues staring. This continues until we hit the magical 4 hour mark, at which point he cries to eat...then we feed him, bathe him, swaddle him, and then he goes to bed. He'll often wake up about 15 minutes later crying, but once he goes down after that, he's out.
Okay, that was much more long winded then I intended.
ANYWAY, last night we did this same new little routine starting at 10:45 p.m. -- feeding, bath, pj's, swaddle, one little wake up, and then he was out. He woke up to eat at 4:30 a.m. and then again at 9:30 a.m. Pretty dang good!
After the 9:30 a.m. feeding, Kevin took him to rock him back to sleep, and I crashed back out. Ok, here comes the good part...the whole reason I started this embarrassingly long winded post. At about 11:30 a.m. Kevin comes back in and wakes me up with breakfast in bed!! He brought me a huge plate of pancakes and cold glass of milk. I got to lay in bed, eat pancakes, and read a magazine for 45 minutes. It was bliss! Then, to make things better, when I got up to shower, Kevin had separated the laundry (which he has since taken down to the wash), cleaned up the kitchen, and picked up the living room.
Ahh...it makes me happy again just thinking about it.
Well, just wanted to brag on my fantastically thoughtful husband. Also, if anyone out there has any thoughts about Cameron's little little sleeping strike, let me know.
Tracey & Kevin,
ReplyDeleteCongratulations!!!
We're so excited for you and can so relate to your postings! I especially LOVED the one about the conflicting feelings. . . and, YES! Parenthood is THE most difficult and humbling thing I've EVER done!
I can also relate to the sleeping strike. Chris did it when he was 8 months old. I thought I was certifiably crazy during that month. I wish I had known about Dimetapp! Have you tried a little heating pad under him to make him drowsy?
Blessings!
LaJuana and Randy
Kevin is da bomb! Great job, Kev. I'm glad you got some much deserved rest and pampering, Tracey. As a mom with 2 weeks less experience than you, I have no idea how to stop a sleeping strike. I'm hoping to learn from you! But I HAVE heard that these things will change again soon so not to worry. Love you!
ReplyDeleteTrace,
ReplyDeleteFirst off - great job Kevin!! Any little thing is HUGE, and breakfast in bed is about the best thing out there!!
Hmmm - sleeping strike. Stubborn little guy!! :) Who does he get that from? You know what, don't answer that one. Since he seems to sleep so well after the 10:30 feeding/bath, you may consider making that the routine at the earlier feeding.
We'll probably do something like this with the next one. If we want him to go to bed at, say 8:00pm, we'll feed him, bathe him, rock him, etc and put him to bed at 8:00. When he wakes up you keep the lights off (use a night light) so that he is reminded that it's still bed time. You feed him, change him, swaddle, etc and put him back to bed. So, I think what I would do in your case is somehow keep Cameron in a dark, quiet place, even if he's in the middle of a sleeping strike. You obviously don't have to isolate him if he's going to be sitting there awake, but give him a setting that reminds him that it's bedtime. One other thing that I read (that was very, VERY tough to do at first) was to not interact with him when he wakes up at nights. Again, do all that you need to do in the dark and don't interact with him. That way he'll know that it's not playtime. That was the hardest thing for me. When Shelby would wake up at night I'd turn on my lamp, feed her and talk to her at the same time, sing a little, change her diaper and talk all sweet to her, and then wonder why she didn't want to go back to bed. Duh Suzanne!
Anyway, sorry this is so long!! Enjoy the epic novel!!