Sleep issues, babe number three- Let the games begin!

Our youngest son, Zeke, is almost a year old.  Time flies!  He has been sleeping well (my definition of well is napping at about the same time daily, two naps and sleeping eleven hours with wakeups for nursing).  I think some moms may not agree with my definition of "sleeping well" including nighttime wake-ups, but I've decided my babies are genuinely hungry and need that connection at least once a night.  Zeke wakes two to four times a night but goes right back to sleep usually-- not fun but something I've decided I can tolerate.

What I don't do well with is when the tots won't go to sleep without much protest.  Zeke has been nursing peacefully to sleep and then taking a good nap twice a day for quite awhile now.  It's been great.  I knew it couldn't last forever, but I've been in a if-it's-not-broke-don't-fix-it mode.  And it's a lovely peaceful time to sit and nurse him peacefully off to sleep.  But that has all changed lately.

The same thing happened with Juanita.  I recall that at the minute she learned to walk, instead of drifting off after her bottle, she would sit up and try to climb off of my lap.  What?!  Yesterday, with Zeke on my lap nursing, I was the one who fell asleep in the chair.  Then I was awakened by a slap to the face from him.  He then arched his back and tried to roll to the floor to carry on his day!  My peaceful baby snuggle moments are dwindling away.

I've put him in his crib in this state a few times and he's cried for just a couple minutes.  But now the protest time is increasing; he's crying harder and for longer.  I think he's genuinely scared.  I mean, it's all new to be left in a dark room awake and alone.  What baby expects that all is well when that happens?

So, I was happy to come upon this post about Grace's sleep.  Grace naps so.well.now.  The girl ASKS to go to bed when she is tired (usually about 11 am or so).  She smiles the whole way to bed and relief spreads across her face as she settles into bed.  She wakes up with new energy for the rest of her adventurous two-year-old day.  I'm so thankful for this and happy for her.  I can only hope for this for Zeke too.  Well, hope and plan.

So, I'm going to start waking him at the same time daily (trying to stretch him to six am).  He's a classic overly tired baby...wakiing too early (5:30), easily cranky, napping too late, bedtime too late.  I hope that I can turn this around by creating a bit of a new bedtime routine, some sleep cues (a lovey perhaps?, some music?), some play time in crib during non-sleep time, and most importantly, putting him down before he's overly tired.  Exhaustion will not be the sleep aid from now on.  It's so true that it causes more crying than going to bed on time!

So I'm going to follow the suggestions in the post I wrote about Grace's sleep.  I'm not sure what will happen.  Did I luck out with Grace?  Will Zeke protest more?

As with Grace, I will not have him crying it out alone in his room.  I'll follow the same rule of thumb I did with Grace, up to ten minutes of whimpering protests is ok- but frightened cries, or longer cries and I'll jump in and get him and we'll carry on with our day until the next nap.  We'll see how it goes!  Oh, and I will PRAY!!!  God has designed how babies sleep and He has the most wisdom on this subject!  I felt He answered my prayer with Grace, and believe He'll give me wisdom with Jonah. too. :)

I'll keep ya posted!

Trying for That Third Nap (or early bedtime)

The first half of the day has been great lately.  Addie takes two naps but is awake by 1pm.  This is ideally the time that the second nap should be beginning-- not ending.  I suspect it's because of the nights not going so peacefully.  So we are on a new vicious cycle perhaps of a restful morning followed by an overtired evening followed by night wakeups that have nothing to do with hunger. 

At night we cosleep because it makes breastfeeding easier and I'm much more rested.  (We follow all the safety guidelines which make it safer than crib sleep, which is another bonus).  Nights aren't so much the problem as are evenings.  At night she rolls over toward me and we both fall back asleep as she nurses.  When she's done she rolls back over and I fall asleep on my back.  But during the early evening it takes a lot of rocking, patting and holding to get her to sleep.  Sometimes holds her for hours to get her through that wakefulness.  She always wakes crying and agitated.  Not hungry, just mad.  We used to think it was gas but her digestive system has matured enough that we now know that's not the cause.  Also, the first night of the new nap schedule, when she had that third nap, she went to bed happily and stayed alseep until she was hungry.  So we know it needs to change.

I will post tomorrow as to how things go. 

We are also trying to re-establish an afternoon nap for our toddler who has been having a restful video time since she gave up her afternoon nap.  We also moved her bedtime up which helped a lot but I suspect she could use actual sleep in the afternoon and want to try to give more of a chance to have that.  That will be Jeff's job.  Good luck, honey!

T is for Thankful

Today we are thankful! Yesterday was Izzy's annual heart appointment. It went well. And the words "optimistic" and "hopeful" were used by our wonderful doc. So anytime that happens I'll call it good! Of course, our doc is also a mom with a new baby (4 mo old) at home so she may also have been so tired that she thought she was at Chili's for dinner and was talking about what she ordered. But she reported she had had two cups of coffee and was doing fine. Still, sorta glad we weren't talking about surgery as I would have had to he sure her baby was sleeping through the night first. The summary of the visit is below. The pic above is of Izzy and Jeff with the Big Bird statue at Mott's. Overall it was a blast for her. She got stickers-- that they put on her belly to attach wires to in order to listen to her heart. Then she got to watch a new Elmo DVD which thankfully put her into a hypnotic trance while she had to lie still for 45 minutes during the echo. I still feel like I witnessed a miracle that that part went so well! Then she got a piggy back ride around the pediatric cardiology floor while we waited to see the doc. Then Jeff bought her panda stickers in the gift shop. It was all followed by a lollipop and a walk over to see the Big Bird statue! And Addie slept through almost all of it. All in all, it was more exciting and fun than a non-hospital day around here- not that that means I want more hospital trips. I found my heart breaking for the moms who were discussing heart surgery with their docs, and for all those I know struggling with sick kids. My prayers go out to them. Thank you to all who prayed for Izzy, that the visit
would go smoothly and that we would get good news-- answered prayers. We thank God.

Here's are the details, copied from an email I sent yesterday...

The hole hasn't closed. It has closed partially. The Dr was surprised it's still so open since last year they couldn't hear it at all. But since they did the echo this year they could definitely see it that it's still there.

She said that we don't need surgery in the "foreseeable future" and that she is holding out hope that it will close the rest of the way. Even if it doesn't close in the next two years she may not recommend surgery as the hole doesn't seem to be causing any distress for the heart (no enlargement or valve problems).

So we go back in two years at which time they will likely make a surgery decision either way. Sounds like the odds are in our favor that no surgery will be needed. I sure hope that that is the case!