10 April 2008

operation cold turkey

Lars and I haven’t had a decent nights rest in a long time. It became painfully clear that we need to do something about this while looking through old blog posts yesterday with Bergen and reading that our 2 month old Annika was sleeping for longer then 8 hours at a stretch. I remember those good days. I felt like it was too good to be true and I didn’t even want to talk about it in fear of jinxing it – but my fears came true around 4 months when her sleep changed and it has been down hill ever since.

When she hit 6 months we made her “cry it out”. I decided that I was only going to nurse her once a night anytime after 3am so if she woke up before that time she would have to cry herself back to sleep. It worked and it was great. Things were back on track and we were feeling like normal people again.

And then the month of sickness hit and not only are we back down hill but we are down the entire mountain.

She is doing exactly what her brother did at this young age of 9 months which is fully waking between every sleep cycle. So at least every 3 hours she is up and crying and we are up and patting her back. I am back to nursing her 2 times a night – usually only 3 hours apart which is less time between her day feedings. Not good. And now when she cries in the middle of the night it is different. Not like it was 3 months ago when we first make her cry it out. It is louder, longer and much more painful to hear.

We are very consistent with sleep times and follow our routine to the T. But it just doesn’t work. I have read all the books. Talked to everyone I know who has good sleepers. And after absorbing all the different info – the only thing that will work is stopping cold turkey. No more patting. No more rocking. No more walking. Back to nursing once a night.

Operation Cold Turkey.

Begins tonight. Prayers appreciated.

2 comments:

the buurstra's said...

OH MAREN. I thought our nights were rough. EVERY THREE HOURS?! EEK. You've considered sending her back haven't you? If there were a place to send her, right?! :)

I will definitely pray for you guys. I know the weariness ALL TOO WELL. I think I can count on one hand the nights that Grayson has slept consistently through the night in his year of life.

I just ordered the Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child book...I'm trying to figure out why Grayson is so inconsistent in his sleep-he likes to wake up at 3am and then 5am almost every night. These people that talk about babies sleeping 12 or 13 hours a night? I'm not a violent person but I'd love to slap them upside the head-even though it isn't their fault that their kid sleeps, just that it might make me feel (even momentarily) a little bit better about my situation.

I really hope this works for you. From two tired parents over here, best wishes! And if you figure out anything that works...PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE for the love...share.

aunt kate said...

good luck! hearing that annika was sleeping 8 hrs a night at 2 months and is now so difficult makes me nervous for what is to come. nora sleeps for 4-6 hrs stretches since she was born, which requires only really getting up once a night...but she is 6 weeks now and i'm nervous that will change.
so sweet dreams annika! hope the cold turkey works!

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