Sleep has been a continued source of frustration for me with Emmeline. She's not a horrible sleeper. She's just bad enough, though, that I'm getting really tired. When my mom was here around the end of spring semester, she let Emme cry some to get her to give in to sleep, and that did help. But after she left, what had been 5 or so minutes of crying became 5 or so minutes of screaming and/or extended sessions that ended up in us having to go get her. This past weekend and early this week, she was up maybe every hour or two. So I decided I need to start keeping better track of what our nights look like so that I can come up with some kind of plan. (Perhaps this is what happens to graduate students who just finished a research methods class, perhaps this is what happens to really tired moms, but either way, here it is.)
For the evening of Tuesday, May 10:
7ish -- Emme is sleepy. She is rubbing her eyes and squirming. I sit and nurse her downstairs, and she continues to rub her eyes. I take her upstairs and continue to nurse her while we rock. She eats well, but is still awake when she is finished. I give her the pacifier and put her in the crib. She cries on and off but not hard for 10-15 minutes. By 7:20 or so, it's quiet upstairs and she is asleep.
8:21 -- Emme has woken up and is fussing for more than a few minutes, so I go up. Once in her room, I realize the mobile is playing and surmise that she has (like her brother) kicked the mobile on, and it woke her up. Wish the mobile had an off switch other than the button, but for the moment, sit and nurse some more until she is calm and sleepy. Put her back in the crib. No crying; quickly asleep.
10:30 -- I go to bed. Everything upstairs is quiet.
Midnight -- Wake up Emme crying. Go up, change, and nurse her for about 10 minutes. Put her down sleepy but awake, and she falls back to sleep without any fussing or crying.
3:15 -- Wake up Emme crying. Go up and nurse her for about 10 minutes. Put her down sleepy but awake. She fusses for maybe 30 seconds, then evidently falls asleep without any real crying.
6:30 -- Wake up to Emme cooing. Go up and nurse and change her. She is obviously up for the morning and very pleased with her more rested state.
She was sleepy again by 8:30 when I left to go to an appointment with Wes, but she hadn't really slept when I picked her up from the sitter after 11. When we came home for the neighbor's house where Hailey is sitting today, I changed her, nursed her, and put her down. She cooed and babbled for a while, then fussed, and then slept. She just woke up for a few minutes crying but now it's quiet again. I'm not sure why she's having trouble staying asleep for longer, as that used to be the one thing we didn't have a hard time with, but there are a few things I do know:
For the evening of Tuesday, May 10:
7ish -- Emme is sleepy. She is rubbing her eyes and squirming. I sit and nurse her downstairs, and she continues to rub her eyes. I take her upstairs and continue to nurse her while we rock. She eats well, but is still awake when she is finished. I give her the pacifier and put her in the crib. She cries on and off but not hard for 10-15 minutes. By 7:20 or so, it's quiet upstairs and she is asleep.
8:21 -- Emme has woken up and is fussing for more than a few minutes, so I go up. Once in her room, I realize the mobile is playing and surmise that she has (like her brother) kicked the mobile on, and it woke her up. Wish the mobile had an off switch other than the button, but for the moment, sit and nurse some more until she is calm and sleepy. Put her back in the crib. No crying; quickly asleep.
10:30 -- I go to bed. Everything upstairs is quiet.
Midnight -- Wake up Emme crying. Go up, change, and nurse her for about 10 minutes. Put her down sleepy but awake, and she falls back to sleep without any fussing or crying.
3:15 -- Wake up Emme crying. Go up and nurse her for about 10 minutes. Put her down sleepy but awake. She fusses for maybe 30 seconds, then evidently falls asleep without any real crying.
6:30 -- Wake up to Emme cooing. Go up and nurse and change her. She is obviously up for the morning and very pleased with her more rested state.
She was sleepy again by 8:30 when I left to go to an appointment with Wes, but she hadn't really slept when I picked her up from the sitter after 11. When we came home for the neighbor's house where Hailey is sitting today, I changed her, nursed her, and put her down. She cooed and babbled for a while, then fussed, and then slept. She just woke up for a few minutes crying but now it's quiet again. I'm not sure why she's having trouble staying asleep for longer, as that used to be the one thing we didn't have a hard time with, but there are a few things I do know:
- I sleep much better at this point when she is not in the room with me. It has nothing to do with the sleep I get when she's asleep in the co-sleeper, but the bad habits I give in to because she's in the room with me -- like nursing in bed and falling back to sleep with her in the bed, or not paying attention to how often she's waking and eating because she's then in bed with me, or not changing her diaper as often as I should (since I don't know how long it's been), which results in way more sheet washing than I prefer to do.
- Emme sleeps well when she's in bed with me, but I think her best quality sleep is when she's by herself. The swing helps get her to sleep, but it's almost impossible to transfer her out of it without waking her up, which is often how she ends up in bed with me. She really needs to sleep in her crib, and she will do it if helped along.
- Emme only spends the night in the crib if she starts there. If she goes down for the night in the swing or the co-sleeper, she ends up in bed with me. (I swear some nights I'm not even totally awake when I pull her into our bed.) So even if it takes a little longer or multiple trips upstairs, I have to take the time to get her to go to sleep in her own crib at the beginning of the night.
- She can and will go to sleep with a little fussing or crying. If it's going to lead to sleep (and not just louder crying), it's pretty mild and only lasts 5 minutes or so. It bothers Oliver more than anyone, but he's getting used to it.
- I love the sight, smell, and feel of a sleeping baby cuddled next to me in bed. There is almost nothing better in babyland. But folks, I'm tired. I have a school work to do, a messy house and people coming over Friday, and errands to run, but the thing I really want to do right now while she sleeps is take a nap. I've got to get more sleep at night. And unfortunately, I think that might require nights like last night -- when I'm up more frequently than I'd like but manage to keep her in her bed -- in order to get her to longer stretches of sleep and not in my arms.
Here's hoping!
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