As things often go with having a little baby, as soon as I decided to intervene in Gwen's naps by using a swing, we had a little hiccup in our experiment. She got sick. On a regular basis if she is slightly uncomfortable, or you just aren't doing what she wants, she will complain. Plus, since she is not a good sleeper, feeling bad just made her wake up more often and insist on getting out of bed (or swing) more loudly.
I was understandably a bit discouraged. Less than a week after getting the swing, she was back to waking up after just 45 minutes. And I couldn't get her to go back to sleep for an extended nap by just singing, as I had grown accustomed to doing.
Thankfully, she is all better now. A few days ago she started consistently taking 90 minute naps again (by consistently, I mean greater than 50% of the time; while that is not truly consistent, it is consistent enough for me). I just couldn't get her over the hump of taking 3 good quality naps in a day...until today! This morning she took a 90 minute nap. This afternoon she took a 105 minute nap. And she has slept for 90 minutes for this nap!!!!! The swing is working!!!!!!
In addition to her change back to quality naps this week, she has started sleeping in!!! For the last couple of months, I have been getting up with her sometime between 5 and 6. Some days she has even tried to get up at 4, but I would insist that she sleep longer. This week she started sleeping until after 8. She isn't even the one waking me up in the morning now. I wake up when Simba decides he should lick my face to tell me it is time for him to go outside (I'm hoping to get him to sleep in later too).
I feel much more rested for these two reasons. But there is also a third reason for my newfound rest that I can thank my wonderful husband for. Gwen still wakes up every hour or two during the night. Not cool. She is nearly 6 months old and should be able to make it through the night with only 1-2 wakings. I understand it though. She didn't feel good with her reflux for so long that she got used to waking up every 90 minutes to eat to calm the pain. Now it's a bad habit that we have to break. She was a pretty good sleeper when she was about 10 weeks old. At that time she would sleep for 7 hours at the beginning of the night. I am hoping we can get back to that. Our current strategy is that if she wakes up and it has been less than 4 hours since she has eaten, Keith gets up and holds her until she goes back to sleep (we would try just keeping her in the crib, but she gets hysterical when we do that, so we will just have to break the rocking to sleep habit after we get the eating every time she wakes up habit under control). She is only brought to me if it has been 4 hours. I have tried rocking her to sleep, but she won't fall asleep for me, likely because she knows that there is milk for the drinking when I am near. Keith has been a real trooper for the past two nights, and she cut her number of wakings in half from two nights ago to last night. I am hoping that in a couple of more nights, she will only wake up when it is time to eat, for all of our sakes.
Keith did really well waking up the first night, but last night he somehow fell asleep in the few seconds between me telling him that she was crying and getting out of bed. He is now napping on the couch, where he has been for the last 2 hours. Apparently the night feedings are starting to get to him. It does make me feel a little bit stronger that I have been able to endure this frequent of night feedings for almost 6 months, with very few naps. It wasn't worth taking naps when she would only sleep 45 minutes.
But for now I am going to sleep 4 hours straight between feedings, I'm going to sleep in until after 8, and I'm going to take luxurious hour and a half naps during the day. That is, until she starts teething, goes through another growth spurt, gets sick again, or just decides that she doesn't want to sleep.
I was understandably a bit discouraged. Less than a week after getting the swing, she was back to waking up after just 45 minutes. And I couldn't get her to go back to sleep for an extended nap by just singing, as I had grown accustomed to doing.
Thankfully, she is all better now. A few days ago she started consistently taking 90 minute naps again (by consistently, I mean greater than 50% of the time; while that is not truly consistent, it is consistent enough for me). I just couldn't get her over the hump of taking 3 good quality naps in a day...until today! This morning she took a 90 minute nap. This afternoon she took a 105 minute nap. And she has slept for 90 minutes for this nap!!!!! The swing is working!!!!!!
In addition to her change back to quality naps this week, she has started sleeping in!!! For the last couple of months, I have been getting up with her sometime between 5 and 6. Some days she has even tried to get up at 4, but I would insist that she sleep longer. This week she started sleeping until after 8. She isn't even the one waking me up in the morning now. I wake up when Simba decides he should lick my face to tell me it is time for him to go outside (I'm hoping to get him to sleep in later too).
I feel much more rested for these two reasons. But there is also a third reason for my newfound rest that I can thank my wonderful husband for. Gwen still wakes up every hour or two during the night. Not cool. She is nearly 6 months old and should be able to make it through the night with only 1-2 wakings. I understand it though. She didn't feel good with her reflux for so long that she got used to waking up every 90 minutes to eat to calm the pain. Now it's a bad habit that we have to break. She was a pretty good sleeper when she was about 10 weeks old. At that time she would sleep for 7 hours at the beginning of the night. I am hoping we can get back to that. Our current strategy is that if she wakes up and it has been less than 4 hours since she has eaten, Keith gets up and holds her until she goes back to sleep (we would try just keeping her in the crib, but she gets hysterical when we do that, so we will just have to break the rocking to sleep habit after we get the eating every time she wakes up habit under control). She is only brought to me if it has been 4 hours. I have tried rocking her to sleep, but she won't fall asleep for me, likely because she knows that there is milk for the drinking when I am near. Keith has been a real trooper for the past two nights, and she cut her number of wakings in half from two nights ago to last night. I am hoping that in a couple of more nights, she will only wake up when it is time to eat, for all of our sakes.
Keith did really well waking up the first night, but last night he somehow fell asleep in the few seconds between me telling him that she was crying and getting out of bed. He is now napping on the couch, where he has been for the last 2 hours. Apparently the night feedings are starting to get to him. It does make me feel a little bit stronger that I have been able to endure this frequent of night feedings for almost 6 months, with very few naps. It wasn't worth taking naps when she would only sleep 45 minutes.
But for now I am going to sleep 4 hours straight between feedings, I'm going to sleep in until after 8, and I'm going to take luxurious hour and a half naps during the day. That is, until she starts teething, goes through another growth spurt, gets sick again, or just decides that she doesn't want to sleep.
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