For the first time, I am asking for comments or emails with advice! Let me start off by saying that I have a wonderful baby girl who is truly a joy to be around. I have few complaints--she eats well, naps well, adapts well, likes people, loves her bath, etc.
However, she is 5 months old now, and her sleeping patterns are extremely erratic. I would love any advice, tips, or commiseration possible from the many mothers who read my blog! Georgia's pattern goes somewhat like this:
a few nights of sleeping through the night (she goes down around 8:30-9, and wakes up at 7), the longest stretch being 5 nights in a row;
then a couple nights of waking up once in the middle of the night--
sometimes after sleeping for 6 hours (awaking around 3), sometimes only 3 hours (the past two nights she woke up at 12:30 and 11:30 respectively).
Then the cycle repeats. The problem with this lies in the fact that the only way she goes back to sleep is by nursing. She does not like formula, does not take a bottle or a pacifier, and normally does not fall back to sleep on her own. Georgia does not dictate her own schedule during the day--I make sure she is awake and fed between 7-7:30, and her routine is about a 3-4 hour cycle following that. It does not change, so it shouldn't be a schedule interference. It appears that she is just hungry--but how is it possible that she eats enough during the day to sleep through the night for several days, but then all of a sudden she doesn't? A growth spurt might be a possibility, except that then Georgia would be hitting a growth spurt every 10 days or so (which I don't think is possible). This has been going on since she was probably 2 1/2-3 months old, so it is not a new thing. My concern is that I may not be able to tell, in the future, if she is sick/upset/had a nightmare because she continues to have such an erratic pattern. I wouldn't mind if she woke up every night if I knew she was going to do it! Oh well you just can't know some things, can you?
Any advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. If you don't want to leave them in the comments, you can always email me (I can post my email address in the comments if anyone asks). Should we just let her cry herself back to sleep? We have tried letting her cry for a certain length of time, but our little girl lasts through that and only gets more worked up.
Speaking of worked up, Georgia just woke up from her nap (early) and is melting down. Gotta go! Thanks to everyone for listening.
6 comments:
Leah, I have experienced the exact same thing with Luke and we are experiencing something "similar" now!! At the time when he was doing exactly what Georgia is doing, it took about 3 nights of only looking at him to make sure he was ok without him seeing us. We couldn't touch him or let him see us because he would MELT!!! One night it was 1 hour and 25 min of off and on crying. Eventually he got back in a routine. THEN,he was sick for a week (so of course I fed him anytime he wanted) and THEN we were out of town for a week. For 2 weeks he was up and down throughout the night creating bad bad bad habits :) Once we "worked" on getting him through the night again, he has done the off and on thing. (More off than on!!) He is waking up every night somewhere between 3-5....he will talk or be fussy for OVER an HOUR at times. Sometimes I have given in and fed him (depending on Ross' work schedule), others I hold and pat him and lay him back down. I AM LOST....I have done everything in "the book" and everything else....I need help too so I am hoping you will have some people chime in :) Shannon B
Shannon-
I am so sorry that you have had similiar problems with Luke, but in a way I am relieved to hear that other moms have had the same experience! Last night Georgia slept through the night, but she had a TERRIBLE day! She only napped about 1 1/2 hours in three different snatches (and she is 'normally' a good napper). When I put her down for her afternoon nap she just wailed. We decided to see how long she would go--and she only got louder and more upset! It was terrible. We ate at a friends house last night and Georgia girl melted down in the car on the way home. I was close to tears as well, and told Nathan that I just didn't think I could let her "cry it out" for very long--it is horrible! I hope this is a stage for my girl, and for Luke as well. Maybe some wise advice will be given in my comments:-) Take care!
Ok, so we are "cry it out" kind of people...BUT it really seems that once the baby is about 6 months old, that's when things start to even out. Now you know, Isabella cried all the time. It wasn't until after 6 months that she could settle herself. Elijah, honestly, I don't remember. Lydia though has been more sporadic like Georgia seems to be. But again is was about 6 months that things settled into a routine. The other thing that I noticed is that the most insignificant change can upset their delicate balance. And as we travel a lot... we feel. I will be praying for you as you go through the "hard" part of being a mom. Hope you find something that works for you.
Hey Girl!
I just got a chance to read your blog---it has been a while. I know that the majority of moms who do breast feed, usually have to get up one time during the night to feed until they stop breastfeeding. This is not always the case; I do know one baby that did always sleep through the night that was breastfeed. However, I have one friend who has a 10 month old and still wake up and feeds him in the middle of the night. The hard thing is that you have no idea how much she is getting each time, and some days she is getting all she needs and then probably other days she is not during the day. Also, I have heard that breast milk is not as thick and filling as formula. How you heard this? I agree with the other experienced ladies that once you start solids and she gets a good bit of them, she will probably be more satisfied and more consistent with her sleeping. I know it is really hard when a baby gets use to the breast to take anything else. Have you tried any solids yet? I need to go read your other posts. I hope this helps! In Christ Alone, Emily
Leah,
You might not remember us from seminary. I know we met a couple of times. I linked to your site from Nathan's. Anyway, we had a similar situation with our first son who is now 2 1/2. Since he did have nights when he would sleep all night we decided to let him cry it out when he woke up often around 2 or 3 am. The first night he cried for 45 minutes (I went outside on our porch because I couldn't take it). Thankfully, the next two nights were only about 20 minutes and after that if he woke up he would put himself back to sleep very quickly. With our second son, who is now 11 months, I decided that once he slept through the night I wouldn't nurse him anymore during the night. That worked so well that he has only woken up twice during the night since he was 6 weeks old. Don't worry this isn't normal. All that to say that every baby is different. I remember thinking that those days would never be over and now they seem so long ago. It seems like, just when we figure it out, they've moved on to another stage. That's one of the joys of parenthood: it's new and different everyday.
Rachel-I remember Isabella's crying:-) I am learning with Georgia that little things can make the biggest difference in her sleeping/eating/living habits, and we are trying to walk a fine line between not caring about that at all and staying inside all the time so her schedule is not interrupted. It is hard.
Emily-I have not started Georgia on solids yet. We want to wait until she is six months old. Some people have said that their children slept much better once solids were added; others said that solids disrupted their sleep. One thing we have learned--all babies are different, with different preferences, habits and quirks!
Ginger--I do remember you! I hope that you and Michael and the boys are doing well. Thanks for your words of wisdom. Letting Georgia cry is so very hard, but there are times that that is the only thing we can do. Thank you also for the reminder that these days are fleeting and will soon be past. In no time at all Georgia will be walking and eating 'real food' and I will miss the quality time we spent through my nursing her and caring for her as a baby. Nathan's and my prayer has been for us to be a means of salvation in Georgia's life by pointing her to Christ, and for her to be a means of santification in our lives, by causing us to rely on God. And we realize every day how much we need to do that!
Post a Comment