Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Sleepless nights

For a while there, Baby Bear was sleeping through the nights pretty well. She would sleep about 7 or 8 hours, only waking a few times to fuss until we put her paci back in her mouth.

We have regressed. Oh Lord, have we ever regressed. Over the past three days, I think I have had about 7 or 8 hours of sleep total.

I know one problem we have been having is that Brooklyn has been really constipated. I have no idea why, because nothing changed with her diet or her meds. But anyways, she went a week without "going" until I finally had to give the poor baby a suppository on Monday and oh, what a fun experience that was for both she and I :(. So over the past week or so, she would wake up a lot, screaming and grunting and straining. Poor thing.

My mom thinks, and I am starting to agree, that Brooklyn's other sleep problem is that she is sick of sleeping in her car seat. My mom feels like Brooklyn is uncomfortable and wants to be able to stetch out and move around while she is sleeping, and obviously she can't do that when she is belted into one position. She sleeps much more restfully when she takes naps. She will only nap if she is being held.

Brooklyn also will not go to sleep before at least 1 or 2 in the morning. I do NOT know why. But we can't seem to change this. We try to put her to bed before this, but she just fights and fights it.

I wonder if when I get the Tucker sling, if Brooklyn's transition to her crib will be any easy one. I kind of think it can't be much worse than her sleep habits right now, but who knows.

As far as my lack of sleep, the nights when my husband works overnight security are the worst, because it is just me to get her to sleep, and just me to get up with her. No tag team. For example, here is how last night went...it was worse than usual:

10:45 - Last dose of meds. She has to wait 30 minutes to eat. We played for 30 minutes.
11:15 - Last nursing session and formula supplement
11:30 - Snuggle time, rocking, singing, whatever, to try to get her to sleep. She will calm down for a little bit, then decide she wants to sit up, squirm, get mad, pull my hair, scream, slam her head backwards into my chest or face repeatedly...you get the idea. This goes on for an hour or so.
12:40 - Now she's got a really wet diaper. Diaper change.
12:45 - Try to hold her close and get her to sleep again. She just gets mad. So I figure I will just try putting her in the carseat. This does not go over well. Cry, cry, cry, scream. I take her into my bedroom and put her carseat on the bed and lay next to her. She holds onto my hand and I rock the carseat with my other hand.
1:15 - She's asleep.
1:30 - Every time I try to move my hand off her, she wakes up and starts screaming. She pulls my fingers to her with one hand and grabs by forearm with her other hand. I need to put on my PJ's and take my contacts out and brush my teeth. Oh well. I guess I'll do it later.
1:45 - I doze off for a bit.
2:05 - I really have to pee. I gently take my hand off her and before I can even roll over to get out of bed, Brooklyn is screaming her head off. I take out my contacts while I'm in the bathroom, because she is already throwing a huge fit, and I don't want to have to do this again in an hour or so.
2:10 - Cry cry cry cry...rocking, singing (in the carseat).
2:30 - She falls asleep again.
2:50 - The dogs (in the living room) start barking for what seems to be absolutely no reason. And. They. Won't. Stop. Barking. Brooklyn wakes up, crying.
2:55 - I get pissed and put them outside. Well, I put my pug outside...but my dachshund runs away and it's dark and I have no contacts and I can't find/catch her. I get madder and give up.
3:00 - Rocking, soothing, stroking Brooklyn's face, etc., while she cries.
3:10 - She's back asleep. I doze off too (hand still on her, of course).
3:40 - My pug, who has been barking outside the whole time, still for no reason, starts scratching really loud to be let in on the door right by our bedroom. I finally get up and let her in because it's cold out. Since my hand is no longer on Brooklyn, she cries. The dogs start running around chasing each other. I shut the bedroom door so they can't come in there anymore.
3:55 - Brooklyn's back asleep. Me too.
5:00 - Dogs barking again for no reason. Wakes me up, but only wakes Brooklyn up for a quick second, and she calms down when I give her her paci.
5:30 - Hubby gets home from his security job. I wake up for a minute.
5:45 - Hubby gets into bed. To do so, he must move Brooklyn's carseat off his side of the bed, thereby taking my hand off of her. She screams and cries. He rocks her carseat until she goes back to sleep.
5:55 - Everyone's back to sleep.
6:10 - My alarm goes off.


Somebody help me. Please.

8 comments:

Momma Mary said...

Sleep issues are toughies!! Especially when there is medical stuff thrown into the mix. Can you use a sleep positioner, put up a pack'n'play and let her sleep inclined in your room right next to your bed?? That way if you have to you can sleep with your hand on her, but Daddy getting in/out won't bother her? I feel for you!!

Jennifer W said...

Oh my Lord. I can't imagine still dealing with this. I thought it would never end with Avelyn but eventually it did. And she doesn't have any breathing problems. You poor thing. I will email you every idea I've ever heard of. This WILL pass.

Carrie27 said...

I don't know how you or Brooklyn even function. I feel bad for all of you.

I hope that you can find a better place for her to sleep which hopefully will lead to everyone sleeping.

Cibele said...

I wish I had help. Lyla is the worst sleeper ever

edie & ella said...

girl I am so sorry......how much longer does she have to sleep in her carseat???
Ella had just started not being able to sleep unless someone is with her.....she can be sound asleep and if I get up she wakes up crying.....maybe it's part of separation anxiety on top of the discomfort of the car seat...if worse comes to worse maybe you can sleep with her in a recliner with pillows all around you so she doesn't fall off...or something.
I also know that we went through a similar thing before we got on an earlier bedtime routine...that made all the difference and almost immediately..I would keep them up with me then around 10 we would get ready for bed and they would both just throw F.I.T.S. then I started putting them down around 6 or 7 and they go down with no trouble.....on occassion they are cranky but for the most part they do well.......maybe try an earlier bedtime and readjust her med schedule......good luck......thanks for the update

Sarah said...

I can't help but laugh at your post. We are going through the same thing with Claire except she wants to sleep in our bed and we're trying to get her into HER bed. I ended up laying on the floor of her room with my hand through the slits in her crib so she could hold it until she fell asleep...then I slowly pull my hand through and army crawl out the door, only to be caught and met with screams to be held. I think it's an age thing, separation thing, but I feel your pain girlfriend!

♥.Trish.♥ Drumboys said...

wow - I feel for you Amanda.I don't have any advice sadly.

I tend to agree with you about he car seat and constipation.
I hope the sleep issues resolve soon.
Do you have community sleep schools - for mums & bubs - we have them in Australia.

Raena said...

Hi. I found your blog through Jennifers. I would love to talk with you about gentle sleep solutions if you are interested, maye through email or facebook chat. You can check out my blog through my ID link...it would be "Certified Organic Mom". I subscribe to the no-cry sleep solutions philosophy...there are a handful of things that may work for you and Brooklyn. Just leave me a comment if you would like to talk more. Also, you can go to www.mothering.com and check out some articles and look around the forums. I would suggest you side car your crib. I have a post on my blog about how to do it. Blessings!

All photos on this site are copyrighted. Please do not copy, download, or reproduce them without permission.