Thursday, October 11, 2007

Sleep PLEASE!!!

I don't know if I should pray for sleep for Isaac or Jed? I've started bottle feeding breastmilk on Jed during the day because I've notices that he tend to nibble less, which I am going to try for night time. He will almost always sleep 3-4 hours on the first nightly feeding waking up around 1am, but after that, its nursing for 40 min and then up again in an other hour an a half. He maybe going through a growth spurt..in two weeks he went from 8 lbs 40zs to 9 lbs 6 ozs., but I am finding that it's easier for him to eat from a bottle than nursing...so we'll see...as for the other sleeping situation...Isaac has been up every night since Jed got home, which has been hard for us. Last night, he was up at 1 am and I walked him back to his room at least 10 times before Dan went in to lay down with him. Needless to say, none of us got any sleep...where is the light at the end of the tunnel? I am tired!

2 comments:

wendy said...

Oh, honey! You need some rest, for sure!

Please let me know if we can bring you guys anything...meals, groceries, anything to save you some time right now!

Sally said...

Definitely pray... we will too.
Maybe it's time to try a little "tough love" with Isaac in the middle of the night. Clearly lying down with him isn't working. What worked for us when moving Nathan to his new bed was to say, "If you get out of your bed again (I would do this before 10 times of moving him- that's what will make you mad and frustrated!), mommy will have to close the door." And then do it, and let him cry it out a little while (whatever you deem reasonable- it took Nathan about 8 good minutes of serious screaming.) But he eventually got in his bed, went to sleep, and has never gotten out of bed since. It may only take you one night, and imagine all the sleep you'll gain! It is one tough night though (or it may take a couple... old habits might die hard). Whatever you decide, we hope for the best- and you won't scar your baby for life for letting him cry a bit for the greater purpose of teaching him to go to sleep on his own. It's like you're "robbing him" of sleep by letting him get up, get in bed with you, have tantrums instead of going to sleep... this is my view of it anyway (and partly taken from "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child," the latest book I read.)
There is a light at the end of the tunnel, your baby is only 2 weeks old. He can't yet soothe himself, so ne needs you. Do what you can to get through the day, like you said bottle feeding might work better for you, or putting on a little cartoon for Isaac so you can doze on the couch while Jed's asleep... just do what you can and things will get better week by week. We will be praying!