I am so tired I can hardly function. Since going back to work, Evelyn has decided to start waking up every 2 hours at night. Last week was pretty rough, but I was able to get a little rest over the weekend. Friday night she slept better, as if she knows I'm not going to work the next day. But Saturday night, ugh, she woke up every HOUR AND A HALF. That's more frequently than when she was newly born! I have absolutely no idea why this is happening. We aren't doing anything different during the day. Her bedtime routine is exactly the same. The only thing different is that Jon is watching her during the day when I'm at work and she's getting bottles of breastmilk instead of nursing. I am absolutely DYING from lack of sleep. This morning I woke up to go to work (after another waking-every-two-hours night) and I couldn't do it. I sat up in bed, felt physically nauseaus from fatigue, and just could not make myself get out of bed. So I'm working from home today, just so I could get that extra 45 minutes of sleep. I might take a nap over lunch, too.
So does anyone have any ideas why my sweet darling baby has become a nighttime devil child? I'm thinking it could be two things.
1: Maybe she is just adjusting to being away from me during the day. Even though she is eating plenty during the day, maybe she misses the nursing closeness thing, or something like that, and so she wakes up all night to get that from me. When she wakes at night she eats for like 5 minutes and falls asleep. When I get home from work I usually nurse her frequently to keep my milk supply up and also to give Evie that closeness. It doesn't seem to be working, however.
2: Evelyn has started trying to suck on her fingers. She is almost constantly trying to get her hands in her mouth during the day. She can't quite control her arms, though, so she can get the hand up to her mouth but she can't keep it there. She also can't un-curl her fingers very well, so she can't suck on just a finger or thumb, she is trying to suck on her entire fist. I think this might be a thing at night because every time I go in to her room at night she is trying to get her hand in her mouth. It isn't working, though, so she is getting frusterated. Maybe she is waking herself up? Maybe she is hitting herself in the face? She definitely knocks the pacifier out of her mouth, but that is only an issue when we first put her down since she doesn't use a pacifier the entire night.
I'm at a loss. I probably shouldn't nurse her every time she wakes at night. Sometimes I send Jon to just giver her a pacifier and rock her a little to go to sleep, but that is usually only once a night. I just don't know what to do. I really can't do this for much longer, though. I am so very very tired.
1 comment:
Hi Rachel, It's Alisa's friend, Laura. I'm sorry to have stalked your blog, but she posted that your baby was born and I had to check it out. She's adorable, you must be so happy... and I love her name.
I'm not really an expert on babies sleeping at night, but I can tell you what has worked for us. Do you swaddle her at night? If not, you'd probably be surprised how much a difference in can make. They like to be all snug and tight and then their arms won't fly around to wake them. When you just do it at bedtime, they learn really quick that it's time for sleep. I'm sure you can find some good ways to do it on the internet. Our Charlie is only a week or two younger than her and still loves it. You can even get the "swaddle me" blankets at babies r us, which we love.
Second is... do you have a swing? If she likes being rocked, she probably likes the swing too. I hated sleeping my babies in it at first, but when they sleep for 8 hours, you get over that really fast.
Sorry this is so long, but I totally feel for you. Having a baby was the hardest adjustment I've ever had to make in my life. Good luck.
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