Sleep Update

It is probably a mistake to start a new blog, since I got Luci down about an hour ago and it isn't QUITE dark, and I'm afraid that if her radar goes off before the sun really goes down, she's going to want to play when she wakes up, instead of nursing back to sleep.

But I wanted to give a small update on how it's going since I just posted the original complain-y sleep-issues blog from last week. It's been a really up-and-down process to attempt to change our habits so that Luci's schedule isn't quite as chaotic as ours. Some nights, I seem to miss the "window" when she's ready for bed (especially if we are out somewhere in the evening), and she gets a second wind that can last for hours. And she is CRABBY the whole time I let her stay up, but will not go to sleep. I will try and try to get her down by nursing, singing, rubbing, holding, and even just letting her cry. But if she isn't ready, she isn't going down. Those nights, I usually emerge from the bedroom, baby in hand, looking very tired and very frustrated. Adam always reassures me and says, "It's going to take some time!" I usually glare at him, Luci, and everyone and everything else nearby. I am tired, and therefore I am easily frustrated. Or, I grab the car keys, throw her in the car seat and go for a drive, because that is still the "quick fix."

And then there are other nights, like tonight, where I manage to get through her routine (cereal, bath, read, nurse, put her down in the Pack N Play) at the right place in her internal clock. I have been letting her cry a little more in the last few days, since it seems like she is learning to soothe herself once I LEAVE the room. As long as I'm there, she will look for me and cry. Once I leave, she will cry, but if she is really tired and ready to go down, she will.

The maddening thing is that I still don't really understand why some nights it seems so easy, and other nights it's a major struggle. I try to be consistent in what we are doing from day to day without being TOO rigid, but somehow that doesn't seem to matter.

And the same goes for daytime naps... I am trying to be consistent, but some days are better than others. We still go for drives, or I create or delay errands based on how sleepy (or CRABBY) she is getting. One thing that HAS worked most of the time is a suggestion I got from the book The No-Cry Sleep Solution: if baby wakes up from a nap before the 1-hour mark, try to get her back to sleep as quickly as possible. Some days, this has REALLY made a difference for us. If she falls asleep in the car, wakes up crying after 30 minutes at home, and I can pull her out and nurse her back to sleep ASAP, she usually wakes up 30-60 minutes later in a much better mood. I had no idea of the importance of longer naps before I read that. I used to just let her be up once she was up, and she was much fussier back then.

Anyway, tonight is (so far) a good night. We started her routine around 7:00, and she was in her Pack N Play asleep by 7:45. I let her cry, but it was only intermittent, and she fell asleep relatively fast. She woke up around 9:00 (and it was just about dark! yay!), and I nursed her back to sleep. It's been about 15 minutes since I left the room and she's still out, so I'm hoping she will be out for the NIGHT! (and by "for the night," I mean no long wakings between now and the morning... because she will still be up to nurse a bunch of times...)

Now if only Adam would come home from work and enjoy this with me...