I think that whoever came up with the "it might not happen overnight" phrase must have been a new mom. As I was chatting with my husband this morning about the possibility of Ella sleeping all the way through the night, I started saying just those words...and had to laugh at the irony.
For the last month or so, Ella's little internal clock seems to be waking her up at some point during the 3:00 am hour (or during the 2:00 am hour when we were in California). It's just one middle-of-the-night feeding; she goes to bed somewhere in the 9:00 pm hour, and wakes up somewhere in the 5:00 am hour (when I get up to go to work, now that I'm back). When I was on maternity leave, I didn't mind this feeding--in fact, I kind of liked it. The rest of the house is nice and quiet, and I used the time to do my bible study/prayer journal. But now that I'm back to work, things are a little bit tougher. I still enjoy the quality time I have alone with Ella, but I kind of need my sleep.
I'm managing well enough, but I miss my naps with Ella. On Monday morning, I couldn't fall back to sleep after feeding her, so I ended up getting up at 4:40 am to make sure that I had plenty of time on my first day back. Yesterday, I found my eyes starting to close as I fed her when we got home. And this morning, I actually slept through my alarm for the first time in my life. I just have the alarm on my phone set to vibrate, which has always worked for me in the past, but apparently I was really tired this morning and the alarm just morphed right into my dream. Luckily, the alarm apparently just treats my unresponsiveness as if I hit "snooze", and I woke up five minutes later when it went off again.
I know that I could have it so much worse (my very-dear friend's little boy wants two night feedings at this point), but I admit that I get just a little tiny bit jealous when I hear that other friends' babies are sleeping all the way through the night. I know that we'll eventually get there...it just hasn't happened yet. And like I said...it might not happen overnight.
Today's blessing was the chance to visit with a wonderful friend who I haven't seen in over 18 months! This is the friend who was living in Scotland for a year, and then went on an amazing Semester-at-Sea adventure, and she is now back in the states. She has been so supportive and encouraging to me through our journey, and has been the perfect listener when I needed to talk. It really was a special honor to introduce her to Ella, and Ella to her.
Hi. I was a (modified) Babywise mommy too so i thought I would weigh in. Have you tried letting her cry just one night? It's possible that after just a night or two her body might adjust to sleeping all the way through. With my oldest son (now 3) after just three nights he was sleeping like a champ. Just a suggestion/thought. Going back to work is so hard in the best of circumstances - let alone without a full night of sleep. Best wishes to you, Elizabeth in Tennessee.
ReplyDeleteI bet that enjoying those early morning feedings are so much easier when you can follow it up with a nap later. Thanks for your love the last week! (and defending me last night- they wen't off the deep end!)
ReplyDeleteMy little guy didn't start sleeping all the way through until the 7 month mark. For the two months prior to that he was only up around 4am for a feeding. As I was still (barely) breastfeeding I didn't try to ditch the 4am feeding because it helped my supply. But at 7 months we were done breastfeeding, so I Baby-wised him and let him fuss through his 4am wake-up. It only took a few days and he was sleeping 7:30pm to 6:30am.
ReplyDeleteTry to catch up on your rest this weekend!