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7pm bedtime? An Ode to Infant Sleep (With too many parenthetical statments.)

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009

So I find myself somewhere between the rigid bedtime Mom and the “let them fall where they stand” mom.  I tend to watch Camper’s clues and change his routine and schedule to accommodate his needs.  Most routines are good for at least a month, sometimes more.  It’s gone something like this.

Newborn: nap for an hour or two, wake up and eat, nap for an hour or two.  All night, and all day.

3-7 months old: Up two hours during the day, then a 45 minute nap.  Nighttime was a toss up, anywhere between 2 and 5 hours of sleep in a row.

8-9 months old: For serious shiz he’s SLEEPING FOR 8 HOURS IN A ROW AT NIGHT!!!!  Three naps a day.  We call this the Holy month.  The Golden Reign of Sleep.  The Peaceful Period of Rest.  The Month of Jubilee.  We were also forgiven all our debts and received the titles to lands our ancestors owned.  Not really.  (Ok, enough slightly sarcastic-slightly- serious religious references.  Moving on.)

9-10 months old: 3 hour longish naps a day, waking up 3 or 4 times a night.  (SUCK BUTT.)(Why doesn’t the “But all my friends are doing it!??! thing kick in NOW?)

10-11.5 months old: two naps a day (sometimes he drops one) and sleeping between 6 and 9 hours in a row without waking at night. (Except for when he has a cold and I sleep on the floor of his room with my right hand wedged between his crib bars in order to comfort the child.)

His bedtime has changed from 1 am (Oh, the newborn bedtime when you could go out to dinner at 9pm and your kid would wake up in his cozy carseat, open his eyes to view the Blooming Onion warily, only to go back to bed dreaming about onion-flavored milk to come) to 8pm to 6pm and now…I’m thinking he’s trying to push it back a bit.  He started to wake up SUPER EARLY (we’re talking four o’clock in the morning) and wanting to play.  I’m torn between the early to bed and late to rise miracle that tends to happen in some babies (MY BABY!), and the more tradional keep ‘em up and they’ll sleep in late.  I’ve found that the better his naps are during the day, the better he sleeps at night.  However,  I have to follow the clues.

The clue progression, in order from kind of tired to WAYYYY TOOOO TIIIIRREEDDDD goes as follows:

Clue 1: eye-rubbing

Clue 2: excessive cuddlyness

Clue 3: Who gave the baby pot? (JUST KIDDING. Seriously people. What kind of a mother do you think I am?) AKA Zombie baby.

Clue 5: Fussy-butt baby. (You’re almost getting too late at this point.)

Clue 6: AHHHHHHHHH I’MMMMMMMMMM TIRED AND I DON’T KNOW HOW TO GO TO SLEEP! I’M TOO TIRED TO REMEMBER!!!!!! AHHHHHHHH.  MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA!!!!! AKA: Absolute frantic need for sleep, lots of screaming.

Yeah.  Every 3 months or so he goes through some weird phase where his schedule doesn’t seem to make him happy anymore, and I have to lay back and watch and see how it goes.  I’ve really liked 7am up, 9am nap, 1pm nap, and 6pm bed.  This has been a good stage for us.  He would wake up at about 10pm to eat, and that was it.  MAGIC.  Magic no  more.  The next stage could be better, could be worse.  We’ll just have to wait and see.

Today he woke up at 7:30, took a 9am nap, a 3pm nap, and went to bed at 7pm.

I wonder what’s coming next?

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Posted in All About Baby, Day to day | 1 Comment »

First Night of Resignation

Thursday, May 28th, 2009

So John resigned from the job, because he has a NEW job, starting tomorrow!  That means my husband will be home at night.  All night, no more sleeping by myself!  We changed the sheets on the bed yesterday, and he went and got his favorite pillow from the office, and I got all bleary-eyed.  He will be HOME.  So how did we spend our first evening of his resignation?

8pm Put Camper to bed, watch Chuck.

10:30pm Camper wakes up for his last minute feeding, eats two ounces, passes out.  SCORE. Back to Chuck.

11:00pm Camper makes a funny noise, we interrupt Chuck to go see what is up.  As I pick him up, he pukes down my front, and I smell the unmistakable smell of poo.  Sick poo, which is different than well poo.  I start to change him when John discovers that he’s pooed out his diaper into his crib.

11:15pm Laundry

11:30pm Watching mindless TV with a child, suddenly hyper, chewing on our fresh sheets between us.

12:00am Camper starts with the scratching.  When he’s falling asleep, he scratches the sheets, my neck, my shirt, whatever he can get his hands on.

12:30am After a million Mommy kisses, Camper falls asleep and I relocate him to his crib.  He then starts to scream.

12:32am He ceases crying, and begins banging his pacifier along the slats of his crib, prison style.

12:33am John goes in to cuddle Camper to sleep.

1am John comes back to bed, falls asleep, and promptly begins to snore/cough.

1:30am I instruct him to face the other way in bed.

2am I fall asleep.

4:30am Camper wakes up, comes into bed with me.  John has mysteriously disappeared into the office bed, where he slept because his cold was making him restless, and keeping me up.

5am-7:30am In and out of sleep with Camper scratching me, and me replacing his pacifier every 15 minutes.

7:35am Up so that we can get to a doctor’s appointment for the baby.

So yeah, hopefully we get in the swing of NIGHTTIME again soon.  Oh my.  But yes, we ended up bringing Camper into the doctor this morning.  He’s has a runny nose since May 10th (I know, dorky me, keeping track) and had a rash from about May 12-19.  The last three days he won’t really eat, but he’s been pooing non-stop.  When I called the doctor to ask if we should be concerned, they said probably not, but to bring him in anyway.  He hasn’t had a significant fever, and the nurse practicioner we saw this morning did not think that he had Fifth Disease, based on the type of rash.  More likely, our recent travels have done a doosy on his skin, he has allergies and may a slight cold, and is teething.  All at the same time.  She said that he’s not dehydrated, and that hopefully the nose will clear up when the pollen changes.  Apparently if it IS allergies, there’s nothing they can do until he’s two.  Poor kiddo.  The snot is making it hard for him to eat, and messing up his poo.  So there ya go.  I guess you couldn’t expect anything different from a child made out of a combination of our genetic material.  He never had a chance.

So tomorrow is John’s first day of DAYTIME work.  Which means that he’ll get up super early, commute to New York, and be gone all day long.  But hey, I get to see him all night, as long as he doesn’t snore, right?

PS Robin, if you are reading this, I keep dreaming (as in twice now) that you got a new washing machine.   A huge one with a red lid, and that you won’t let anyone but me see it.  And when I say HUGE, I mean HUGE, as in filling up the whole basement.  I wonder what that means…

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Posted in All About Baby, Dreams | 1 Comment »

I Heart Passing Out No Crying

Monday, May 11th, 2009

Yesterday was rough, but Camper is back to passing out with a little grin/minimal fussing.  I think that the trip messed him up a wee, but one day of toughing out a little more “cry it out” and he’s back to going to sleep well.  STAYING asleep, now that’s another story.  We’re back to sleepus interruptus, totally fun, and I think a product of not eating enough during the day.  I would give my left pinkie toe to the person who can get my son to eat a full bottle a few times a day, but alas.  We’re just going with the flow.  He LOVES solid food- so much so that I’ve added proteins- starting with pureed chicken.  It takes like poultry paste, but he went ga ga over it, so I’m guessing it’s a good addition.  Other things we’ll work into his diet this month: yogurt, cottage cheese, cheese in general, hummus, beans, meats of all types, tofu (if I can figure that one out) and eventually (last because it’s a big allergy food) eggs…I still refuse to give him juice unless he’s not pooping.  It’s just not necessary, and with his tendency to not drink his formula, I don’t want to waste his fluid on sugar water.  I also put formula powder into his food all day long.  It’s in his oatmeal, in his rice cereal, in his sweet potatoes…I have to get it in while I can.

So I ask you, Moms, do your babies eat their recommended amount of formula each day?  If not, do you worry about it or just give them food like they’re begging for?  I know of at least one mommy blogger who talks about her baby kind of self-weaning, eventually preferring mostly solid food during the day.  I think we’re headed in that direction, Camper.

Today was spent doing laundry, doing pre-packing for baby’s first plane trip.  I’m seriously nervous about how he’ll be (i.e. SLEEP) on the plane.  The ONLY time my kid screams is when he’s overtired and can’t relax.  Airplane + tons of strangers + complete lack of crib might be very very bad for him.  It could be just fine.  Let’s hope for just fine.  In the meantime, I’m trying to “streamline” packing efforts, bringing the exact amount of everything I need, avoiding unessential items, and wondering how much I’ll need my computer while I’m gone.  Would you all miss me?  Would I have time for blogging anyway?  I know what I NEED to fix this problem, but not yet.  Not til our contract is up in September.  Oh yeah, and not until we pay off this trip to Utah that we can’t afford.

Yeah.

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Posted in Adventures, All About Baby, Blogging, Day to day, Family | 1 Comment »

A whole new sleep!

Monday, April 27th, 2009

Camper went to bed at 8 last night, woke up at 9:30 to eat, and then slept until 7:30am! Might be that he’s still a wee sick, but seriously! If that’s not sleeping through the night, I don’t know what is!  The “cry it out” thing has been SO EASY.  The worst was the first time, 25 minutes.  Now he’ll fuss for about 60 seconds and then pass out.  AND he wakes up happy and smiley.  If I had only known…

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Posted in All About Baby | 4 Comments »

The Sleep Battles Continues- Sleep for a 4 Month (Almost 5 Month) Old

Tuesday, February 17th, 2009

So Bubby goes back and forth with his sleep patterns.  I’ve starting keeping a log of his eating, sleeping and pooping.  I’ve tried to find the perfect pattern of food and naps that leads to a sound night’s sleep, or the right time of day for his solid food for a good, two hour nap.  What I’ve learned from this log is…nothing.  He is all over the map.  Generally he wakes between 5:30 and 7 (an occasional 8 here and there) has one or two naps before noon, eats every three hours and will eat solid food after a full bottle around 11am, naps a couple times after noon and then goes down for the night between 6pm and 8pm.

Compared to newborn Camper, this is actually pretty good.  But I am at a complete loss as to why he has these variations in his schedule.  Maybe his “clock” is still setting in.  John and I try to be pretty consistent with what we do so he can be consistent when he so chooses, but it doesn’t seem to make a difference.  My favorite sleep book EVER, The No Cry Sleep Solution, says that your baby’s sleep patterns are only problematic when they are causing you distress.  As long as you get some sleep and have reasonable expectations, you’re probably ok.  Also, a 5 hour stretch is considered sleeping through the night.  Sometimes Bubby sleeps for 5 or 6 hours, but usually he wakes up every 3 or 4 hours to eat, just like during the day.  And aside from his 4am poop (reinstated just this week) he usually goes right back to bed.  So it’s good.  And bad.  And who knows when I’ll sleep for 8 hours in a row again?  12 years old, you think?

Lately when I’ve got to get his he’s wiggled himself into some odd positions.  Sometimes his head is in the complete opposite direction from where it started.  This morning I couldn’t see him from the doorway, but when I got closer he was right up again the slats on the crib, chewing on the wood.  Little gopher style.  His big eyes were just staring at me through the slats and he was just gumming away, happy as could be.  Here’s the thing though, he was still swaddled!  I wouldn’t be nervous about the gymnastics if he had his arms, but he’s basically a baby mummy just using his legs to move around.  So although the doctor told us swaddling is completely ok, I think we’re going to work on sleeping unswaddled.  He can move around pretty well when he has use of all his limbs, and I think he could even sleep on his belly if he wanted to if he didn’t need to be swaddled.  My plan right now is to eliminate nap swaddling.  This morning he slept for 20-30 minutes in his crib, then about the same amount of time laying next to me in bed.  Right now he’s sleeping in his swing.  I just want him to figure out that he CAN fall asleep without it.  So we’ll see if he adjusts.

I guess we’re still in the “read the signs” phase.   Good thing he’s cute, huh?

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Jumble of Thoughts

Wednesday, December 10th, 2008

He napped fabulously today!  AND he didn’t scream after his bath (I drained it before I took him out…seemed to “transition” him better), AND he ate and went to sleep on his own in his crib by 8:30pm.  Who took my baby and switched him with another one?

Ok.  That’s not even funny.

Is he gonna wake up any minute now?  What do I do with the load of laundry that needs switched? The washer and dryer are in the closet in his room… I’m not used to this!

Also: I’m re-reading Twilight after seeing the movie that I only loved because it is fun to mock.  I finished the first book and am skipping right to the last one.  That’s totally the way to go.

Also again: If you’re looking for a good meal, we got a marinated pork loin from Costco awhile ago.  I cut it into 5 pieces (could’ve cut it into 6 for just the two of us, easy) and then baked it in the oven for an hour and a half in some tin foil at 350ish.  It might take a little while, but it’s SO tender and tasty and nice and easy.  And it’s a bunch of dinners just ready in the freezer for you!  Yup.  Yummmmmy.

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Posted in Toooo tired to choose a category | No Comments »

Sleep and My Three Month Old

Tuesday, December 9th, 2008

So it’s time.  Camper is 10 days away from his 3 month birthday, I can’t believe it!  I’ve been feeling more and more like it might be time to not only grow more serious about our sleep rules that we’ve established (and been at least 80% good at keeping) but to begin a more formal “sleep training.”  I was wondering when it would become time that we could actually maneuver him into sleeping when we want/need him to, and I think that most of the things that I’m reading point to between 3 and 6 months old.  I found this today:

Sleep training opportunity
Typically, by age 3 months or so, babies have started to develop more of a regular sleep/wake pattern and have dropped most of their night feedings.

This doesn’t mean you should suddenly impose a rigid sleep program on your 3- or 4-month-old. In fact, your baby may already have developed sleep patterns that fit in well with your family life. But if you’d like to help your baby sleep longer at a stretch and keep more regular hours, now might be a good time to try some type of sleep training.

Keep in mind that every baby is on a unique developmental schedule. Observe how your child reacts to sleep training, and if she doesn’t seem ready, slow down and try again in a few weeks.”

So there ya go!  Keeping in mind that my baby may or may NOT be ready for a more regular schedule, I think it’s time to try.  The last few days I’ve been trying to follow a bedtime routine, which is the most consistent piece of advice EVERYONE seems to give about helping baby learn how to sleep more regularly.  Here’s the thing, I don’t mind if he wants to wake up and eat in the middle of the night- he actually goes right back to sleep afterward and it doesn’t cause too much of a problem for me.  What I REALLY want, my BIG goal, is for him to go to bed the same time every night, within an hour or so.  That way as he matures and is able to sleep longer, he’ll do it from the same starting point.  I see it like setting up a good platform to jump off of.  And a more predictable evening for Mommy and Daddy.

SO.  This is the routine that we’ve come up with.

8pm Change diaper, change into feety PJ’s, have a little lotion massage.  (I know this is generally when people say, “Give him a bath, it’ll put him out!” But tis not true.  My baby LOVES the bath, so much so that it traumatizes him to the tune of screaming for an hour every time I take him out.  Also: I give him a bath earlier in the day when it’s warmest out.)

8:15pm Quiet rocking until it’s time to eat.  Feed him a bottle in a dim room, say goonight!

Whenever all THAT is done: Cuddle in his bedroom and listen to lullabies, when he’s VERY sleepy turn on the white noise and put him in his crib.  Say a prayer, final goodnight, and leave him in his bed.

Whenever he starts freaking out, pat on the back, rub his head, pick up for a couple of minutes and then RIGHT BACK in the crib until he falls alseep for real.  So far this process has taken….until 2 am.  Last night he took a power nap then was up til around 2:30.

I know.

It sucks.

I get SO frustrated! It’s so hard to wonder, is he still a newborn?  Is this having any effect at all?

Then I read that while you cannot control when your baby goes to sleep, you can wake him up at the same time every day.  So I think I’ll try waking him up every day at 7am (this is the time he woke up today, he slept from 2-7, not bad, just needs to be earlier!!) and see if that helps his little clock get settled down a wee.  We shall see I guess.  He might just fall right back to sleep, who knows?

Today I think I began reading his “signals” a little better.  I put him down for a nap usually about two hours after he gets up in the morning.  He’ll start rubbing his eyes and I know it’s time for either a swaddle or a meltdown.  I almost always choose swaddle.  Today I laid him down and he did his obligatory 20 minute nap and seemed awake.  But I was on to him this time.  I kept the white noise on, kept him in his swaddle and laid down with him for about 10 minutes.  Sure enough, he fell asleep immediately.  He woke once more and then went back to sleep.  Total nap time: 2.5 hours.  Perfect.  He was up for about two hours (enough time to visit with friends!) and then back to sleep again for another hour.  I think that this could work…as long as I watch him and get him to sleep before the meltdown happens.

Yup.  Been working on this post pretty much all day, and am finding it a wee ironic that as I speak not only is it past 8 and we’ve done nothing on our “schedule,” but Camper is sleeping peacefully in his Daddy’s arms.  Sigh.  One day.

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Posted in All About Baby, Toooo tired to choose a category | 1 Comment »

Miracle Blanket, Night 1

Tuesday, November 4th, 2008

SO.  Camper’s normal “big sleep” at night, the sleep where he stays in his crib for at least 3 hours, usually doesn’t start til about 1:30am.  Then he wakes up, I feed him, and he goes BACK to bed for an hour, maybe three…depending on his mood.  I consider it a successful night if I can get him to sleep in his crib for two consecutive 2-4 hour periods.  That does not always happen.  Another problem is getting him IN bed, that can be a real struggle.  I put him down, I pick him up, I put him down, I pick him up.  Sometime I even sit him up in his crib and feed him the last ounce of his bottle, then lay him down gently and hope he stays comfortable.  Then, of course, there are the nights when he doesn’t sleep on his own at all.

My sister-in-law, Becca, called and asked if we would try something if she sent it to us.  She told us about the Miracle Blanket, I googled it and found the instructional video.  My first thought was, “There is NO WAY he’s going to let his arms be swaddled like that.”  I read a bit about it and realized that the arms are the important part.  How many times a night does Camper wake himself up by scratching his face or getting his hands or blankets too close to his mouth so he starts rooting?  Lots.  Lots Lots.  So I tried it.

And it worked.  I fed him about 11pm, which is the “goal” time.  I’d love him to go to bed at 11 consistently.  After midnight is too late, I get waaay tired by then, but any earlier and I might not want to go to sleep yet myself, even though I need to sleep while he does.  Up to this point he has only gone to bed at 11pm one time.  He ate 6 ounces (way to go Bubs!) and I changed his diaper and swaddled him up.  Then I laid him in his crib around 11:30, and sleep he did.  He slept soundly until 4:00am.  Yes people.  That’s 4.5 hours of sleep for ME.  Wonderful Becca gave me the gift of an 11 o’clock bedtime, at least for last night.

He ate 4 ounces at 4am and seemed like he was wanting some awake time.  I changed his diaper and swaddled him up again and cuddled him for about 2 minutes before I decided to put the blanket to the “ultimate” test.  I laid him down, completely awake, and laid in the bed to see what happened.  He did struggle against the blanket for a minute, but not fussing, and made a few noises and then was quiet…and next thing I know, I was waking up after 8am…so he slept from about 4:30 to about 8:15.  Yeah…not even kidding. Almost another 4 hours.  DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT ADDS UP TO?  4.5 + 4 = LIKE A KAJILLION HOURS OF SLEEP!

Another plus, the blanket seems to comfort him so much that if we give him the pacifier to lay down it “falls out” naturally when he’s done with it as opposed to knocking it out with his flying fist.  It was really funny, when I was holding him before I laid him down, he sucked his pacifier for about 5 minutes and then moved his head forward and ejected it forcefully.  It was like he couldn’t use his hand, so he just spit it as hard as he could, and then settled back into sleep.  Haha.  Also, he didn’t, even once, do one of his sleep screams where he jumps himself awake. The second time I laid him down and then actually took the pacifier out- which is a huge baby NO NO, but he stayed asleep!

Perhaps even better, I don’t worry that his blanket is covering his face or that he’s too hot or cold, or that he’s scratching his eyes out.  I really felt comfortable leaving him swaddled and then sleep more soundly myself.

I would call Night 1 a complete success.  I might swaddle him for a nap this afternoon, but I might just save if for nighttime…I haven’t decided yet.  I’ll keep you posted.

Thanks Becca :)

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Posted in All About Baby | 5 Comments »

Am I still sleepy?

Thursday, October 30th, 2008

So…I’m not sure what time I went to bed last night.  I see that I posted at almost two, and I thought I had Camper in bed about a half hour after that, or maybe an hour…but I also remember being up at 3 and then feeding him one more ounce.  So I don’t know.  What I DO know is that I laid down and what seemed like 2 seconds later it was 7:30 am.  I think he slept for at least 3 hours, maybe even 4.  Again, I wish I could know what time I got him to stay in his crib.  Tis ok.

Yesterday was a busy, busy day.  John went to school and then came home.  From there I stopped by work to see the people I used to work with and show them my little boy, almost 6 weeks old.  It was a little crazy.  I didn’t even get up the ramp to the accounting department before we were swarmed.  It was nice to see everyone again and introduce them to the Little Camper I waddled around there carrying for so long.  I ended up being pregnant the entire time I worked there.  I was pregnant when I started and pregnant when I left- interesting.

After that stop John and I went to the mall, we were actually looking for a digital camera- a Cannon Rebel…because I desperately want a better camera with which to capture pictures of my baby.  The store we were searching for was closed, though, which was not cool.  We just want the body of the camera because John already has a cannon camera with a compatible lens…but we didn’t find it.  So instead we headed into a couple of stores and ended up getting John some new church/job interview clothes and me a new winter coat (as I have, um, “outgrown” my old one).  More things we probably shouldn’t buy but probably actually need.

We then ran home to meet my friend Anisa who was going to help me with Camper’s Halloween costume (pictures on codenamecamper.com for anyone who cares to register).  I had gone from wanting him to be an owl…to a horse…to a ghost…because I had NO IDEA how to accomplish what I wanted to do costume-wise with a newborn ready to cry/eat/poop any moment.  “Anisa to the rescue” convinced me to go for the owl, and after a brief outing to a crafy person shop we were busy hot gluing away.  The result is not professional, by any means, but it is damn cute.  Way to save the day Anisa- and now my little boy gets to spend his first Halloween as an owl baby.  I LOVE it.

In other news…I have my 6 week post-natal appointment tomorrow.  I’m a little nervous. I just want a clean bill of health and to be able to move on with life.  We will see.  We’re also inquiring into Mirena.  I may walk away with it tomorrow, I may have to make an appointment.  I’m not sure how that all works, really.  I know how it gets in there, but I don’t know if we have to wait for a certain time to do it.

OK, I think my baby is hungry again.  I may feed him them try and work out with one of these fabulous in your living room type DVD’s I’ve got.  Anyone have the secret to being able to exercise when you have a wee baby hanging out with you all day?  And don’t say, “Don’t.”  Haha.

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Posted in All About Baby, Day to day | 1 Comment »

Oh Precious Sleep- What We Do

Sunday, October 26th, 2008

So aside from bedtime being almost 3am, Camper did REALLY well last night!  He slept a lot during the day yetersday, whcih probably accounts for the late bedtime, but he usually gets to a point that he just needs his bed.  Last night we cuddled and loved him until midnight, at which time he had some food.  He played around for a couple hours, ate again, and then I read to him and he FINALLY laid down and stayed asleep.  He woke up right before 6 and I fed him before he was even fully awake.  Tip: If you can feed your baby before he’s FREAKING OUT there’s a bigger chance he’ll go back to sleep.  And go back to sleep he did, until about 9, when he slept with Daddy for a bit, until almost 11!!  Wowza, good baby.  Now, in John’s words, he’s “happy as a clam.”

So yesterday I was talking to a friend about the division of labor between a Mommy and Daddy when it comes to baby, feeding, etc.  There are tons of different ways you can work things, so this is just how we decided to do it.

When I was breastfeeding it was a lot more difficult than it is now- mostly because I was necessary for most interchanges with baby, especially at night.  To combat my complete fatigue we ended up just making sure I slept other times…John would sleep a big chunk at night, but as soon as he got home from school he would take baby so that I could nap as much as possible. I napped in shifts, 2 hours here, 3 hours there.  Then there was the “emergency plan.”  If I wasn’t able to get enough sleep or if Camper decided to be CRAZY one night, sometimes John would actually take him out of the house and drive him around for a couple hours in the middle of the night so that I could sleep without thinking he needed to nurse. It was not a perfect plan, it was difficult and I didn’t get very much sleep.  An important part of that plan was me sleeping in the baby’s room when I was “on,” and then napping in the bedroom when I was “off.”  John and I slept alone…but that at least ensured that we both got sleep.  But that sucks…bad.  But then along came mastitis and a whole new plan.

When we weaned I was very sick, I gave him a bottle to see how he’d do.  He was a champ, so I promptly took two percocet or whatever the doc had given me for the postpartum pain and got a little loopy.  John sent me to bed and fed Camper himself.  Out of this experience was born our “method.”  I still try to nap in the evenings, but now I can just sleep as long as I can sleep.  You would think that would be a lot, but most nights it’s an hour or two or not at all.  The best night so far I went to bed about 11:30 and John put him to bed around 1.  Camper slept until 4:30, and I got up and fed him then, and he went back to sleep.  John slept from 1 until he had to get up for school and I got about 7 hours of sleep, total, albeit with a feeding break in there.  It worked!  And John and I actually both slept in our bed.  But Camper has not cooperated so fully since.  Now We both stay up for awhile, I end up taking the late night feeding, sleep until he wakes up for his early morning feeding, and then pass him off for John to do the regular morning feeding while I sleep more.  Sometimes John and I end up in the same bed, sometimes we end up sleeping in Camper’s room to be closer to him or just get some desperate sleep.  We switch things up here and there, but you get the picture…shift work.  That way we each get uninterrupted sleep.  This would not work with breastfeeding…so that’s definitely trickier to figure out…but I think it’s working for us pretty well at the moment.  We’re both still tired, especially when he has nights that he just doesn’t calm down…but it’s working.

There are a few courtesies you can observe when it comes to shift work.  It’s really nice if at the end of your “shift” if you can make sure baby is clean, changed, and fed, and maybe even sleeping before you do the big hand off.  But then again, if he’s been a screamy little monster baby and you’ve hit the “I love you but I don’t like you very much right now” stage, where comforting feels more like trying to comfort a swizzle stick because he’s screaming so hard he’s made his whole body hard and won’t relax…sometimes you just switch shifts.  Switch fast.

So yeah, that’s what we do.  And pray for the night when it gets a little more predictable so we can get a routine going on.  Oh that’ll be nice.  Soooo nice.

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