I was going to ask, "what is it about new motherhood that makes you so beat?" Then I yawned.
Right, it's the sleep factor. Last night I tried the Baby Whisperer technique for inching William along to sleep longer overnight. Method: "Tank the Baby up"--feed him at 5, 7, then "dream feed" while the baby is sleeping (yeah, right) at 11. And watch him sleep (not literally).
Mmmm... Fed at 5 (ish), then 7 (ish), gave him a bath, we both went to bed at 8:30 and I set my alarm for 11:30. Didn't turn on any lights, and didn't unswaddle William as I attempted to "dream feed" him after my alarm went off. But then thought I smelled poo and changed him before putting him back down, thus waking him. Still, he went down again no problem at 12:30 (drum roll) annnnnd woke up around 5.
So, no go. I get that already. If I'd have let him sleep at 8:30 he'd have probably slept for 5 hours or more, so I lost out in this deal. Book says to keep trying, it could take up to a week. How does everyone else do this? Does the baby "organically" start sleeping nights? Like I say, I can get 5, 6 hours out of him now, it just might start at 8 or 9.
Yawn.
Of course, I also had an energy spurt when I awoke at 11:30, so I didn't go back to sleep right away. Imagine my dismay when I went to sleep at 2:30, only to be up 2 and 1/2 hours later. Let's see, 3 hours at 8:30 pm, 2 1/2 at 2:30 am, that's 5. I went back to bed at 7:30 am for 3 hours, but slept poorly as I was cold (despite being covered in tons of blankets).
I'm always doing the sleep math throughout the day wondering if I'm justified when I feel tired (like now). Like so tired I'd rather sleep then eat.
Screw it. I'm having a nap.
But I do love William to pieces, and he's still cute as hell. Despite of his recent growth spurt, I do not regret being a Mummy (though the sheer magnitude of it all can be quite overwhelming).
3 comments:
Yawn, indeed!Girl, you do not need to justify why you are tired. Seriously! Like you said on my blog...we should chat :-) Too much for a blog comment on this one!
I still say, "Screw it I'm having a nap", even though I don't have newborns anymore ;-) Like Amanda said, you don't need to justify it. Parenting is exhausting.
p.s. We tried the dream feed approach too, but it didn't really work out for us.
I've determined I am now just going to see what organically happens regarding sleeping overnights.
The growth spurt he just had was alright but lead into his vaccinations, and all of a sudden we have a midday issue of 2 short naps and extreme fussing/crying leading into the 6 hour sleep.
Sigh/Yawn. It takes a lot to remind me this will not last. It's just so hard to see William all worked up and crying for what appears to be no apprent reason, when we always look for sleep cues, have a basic routine for some predictability, etc, etc.
These little babies!
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