It's been a long couple of weeks. There's been a lot going on, which hasn't made finding time to write any easier. It seems like I'm not doing enough that actually relates to this blog, and that almost makes me sad.
The whole situation with my baby, he's decided to wean after all. We got a couple good attempts at nursing back, but my milk supply was just too low and it seemed like we couldn't recover from it. He would get upset, frustrated, and angry, and eventually he stopped coming back to me all together. I think he just gave up. I have to admit, I'm really sad about that. I'd promised myself that I would keep on with nursing until he was at least two, since that's when doctors site the maximum benefit ends. I also wanted him to choose to self-wean instead of forcing him to quit. Well, it seems like my body made it more ideal for him to quit. He decided he just wasn't going to do it anymore, so he was done. My older son kind of did the same when he weaned, and with my daughter we had to quit because she and I were both starting to loose too much weight. I have to admit, it kind of makes me feel that I failed when my friends are all enjoying far more success than I had. In many cases, they talk about how I'm lucky to have lost the baby weight so quickly. In my case, I honestly think losing the baby weight was what lead to my inability to continue nursing.
In other news, the littlest one has also decided that staying up all night sounds like fun. He sleeps perfectly peacefully if he's in a room alone, but if we're in there, he wants to be awake. He rarely is able to get comfortable sleeping on the bed with us these days. He tosses and turns all night. When we put him down by himself, he cries for a moment, then he pulls up his blanket and snuggles in. I feel horrible about that too. I'm such a big person on attachment parenting that it kills me to know he won't sleep unless I let him cry for maybe a minute. Otherwise he just fusses, rolls around, and just seems miserable and tired. It seems like it takes on average an hour for him to fall asleep with me, but then the slightest movement will make him wake up. It's frustrating that he's such a light sleeper, but it's becoming more often that he sleeps more heavily on his own. Honestly, I wish we had the space to give him his own bedroom, since he likes to sleep in the dark and his brother wants to have light. I'm also really afraid they'll wake each other up all night. It may just be time to transition him into sharing a room with his brother. What can I say? It's a really sad time of year for me. My baby is growing up way too fast!
Showing posts with label cosleeping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cosleeping. Show all posts
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
In the Bed, out of the Bed
Last night was another rough night. For the second night in a row, our youngest has decided he doesn't really want to sleep. It's not that he's getting up and playing, which was the reason my older son eventually decided he didn't like sleeping in the bed. Instead he's just getting fussy, like he can't get comfortable.
For our littlest one, sleeping in the bed has always been quite the challenge since he was six months old. At first he would only sleep in his swing. Nothing else would do. Then when we got him back into the bed, he was handling it quite well, but he would spend about a half an hour crawling around the bed, fussing the whole time, because he couldn't get comfortable. He just wasn't a happy baby at all! Once he finally found his comfortable spot, he laid down and would sleep peacefully until morning.
We went through a couple weeks there where we were spoiled. The baby would lay down for bed and he would cuddle up to me. He had boycotted nursing, so all I had to do was put him in position to nurse and he would take his thumb and be gone to the world. I was sad that it looked like he'd be weaning so soon, but I was thrilled that he was finally sleeping well.
That's when things changed again. I don't know what happened, but he's become an entirely different baby again. He only wants to nurse at bed time, so my milk supply is still pretty low. He doesn't want to sleep. Instead he crawls around and fusses all night. He seems to get comfortable, then moments later he gets up and starts fussing again, sometimes just to roll over, sometimes to crawl around the bed. He's always cold at night because he has this thing against blankets. For a while he and blankets were good, but now he's decided they aren't any fun at all and do not belong on the bed. He even sometimes refuses to lay on them, meaning my partner and I have to freeze on the bed! I don't know how he can stand it! Our room is pretty chilly at night! At some point in the night he always fusses that he's cold and snuggles up to us, but won't tolerate the blankets. We would just dress him warmly, but we've had to take to putting a towel down under him because he's been soaking through all his diapers recently. I know disposables are more absorbent than cloth, but he's soaking through those like crazy too! It's just so strange!
As a result, he's kind of been in and out of our bed the last week, making it hard for my partner and I to get any sleep. I love my kids dearly. I wouldn't give them up for anything, but for those of you who tell me my life with baby should be so much easier now that he's a year old, that's not at all the case!
Hopefully this is just a phase and he'll outgrow it soon, like my daughter and her hatred of reading. I know he won't always be such a pain over where he sleeps. As he gets older he'll probably be the kid that can sleep anywhere! For now, we're just going to have to keep working through it.
For our littlest one, sleeping in the bed has always been quite the challenge since he was six months old. At first he would only sleep in his swing. Nothing else would do. Then when we got him back into the bed, he was handling it quite well, but he would spend about a half an hour crawling around the bed, fussing the whole time, because he couldn't get comfortable. He just wasn't a happy baby at all! Once he finally found his comfortable spot, he laid down and would sleep peacefully until morning.
We went through a couple weeks there where we were spoiled. The baby would lay down for bed and he would cuddle up to me. He had boycotted nursing, so all I had to do was put him in position to nurse and he would take his thumb and be gone to the world. I was sad that it looked like he'd be weaning so soon, but I was thrilled that he was finally sleeping well.
That's when things changed again. I don't know what happened, but he's become an entirely different baby again. He only wants to nurse at bed time, so my milk supply is still pretty low. He doesn't want to sleep. Instead he crawls around and fusses all night. He seems to get comfortable, then moments later he gets up and starts fussing again, sometimes just to roll over, sometimes to crawl around the bed. He's always cold at night because he has this thing against blankets. For a while he and blankets were good, but now he's decided they aren't any fun at all and do not belong on the bed. He even sometimes refuses to lay on them, meaning my partner and I have to freeze on the bed! I don't know how he can stand it! Our room is pretty chilly at night! At some point in the night he always fusses that he's cold and snuggles up to us, but won't tolerate the blankets. We would just dress him warmly, but we've had to take to putting a towel down under him because he's been soaking through all his diapers recently. I know disposables are more absorbent than cloth, but he's soaking through those like crazy too! It's just so strange!
As a result, he's kind of been in and out of our bed the last week, making it hard for my partner and I to get any sleep. I love my kids dearly. I wouldn't give them up for anything, but for those of you who tell me my life with baby should be so much easier now that he's a year old, that's not at all the case!
Hopefully this is just a phase and he'll outgrow it soon, like my daughter and her hatred of reading. I know he won't always be such a pain over where he sleeps. As he gets older he'll probably be the kid that can sleep anywhere! For now, we're just going to have to keep working through it.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Baby in a Box = Co-Sleeping Success?
When we started out with the whole co-sleeping thing, it seemed the most natural thing to do. I co-slept with both of my older children, so why wouldn't I with this new baby? Of course, not everything goes along so smoothly. My partner thought the idea of co-sleeping was a little bit weird. In his experience, babies slept in cribs and that was just the end of it. He and I had a lot of discussions about this. I guess I was a little out there for him.
For a variety of reasons, my littlest one ended up spending a lot of time sleeping in his swing. Some of it was just where he fell asleep and we didn't have the heart to move him. However, it was really pretty well sealed when we went over to cloth diapers. We didn't have enough covers to start with, so our little man would play around while in a diaper without a cover. While this largely wasn't a problem, it kind of was when he went to sleep. If we weren't waking up to check in on him, the moisture would seep through, and having a towel under him wasn't always enough. We started having him sleep in the swing a bit more often, just when there was no cover clean, and before we knew it, it was happening all the time.
It's happened once before and happened again the other day that our little boy couldn't sleep in his swing. He'd gotten a quite explosive diaper and managed to get it everywhere. The swing's seat needed to be washed, but he was too tired to do more than cry. We had no choice but to find somewhere else for him to sleep. We knew putting him on the bed was a bad idea as the room isn't yet baby safe enough for when he wakes up. Instead, we put a pillow on the bottom of a box (more like one of those Rubbermaid storage boxes) and put him down in that to sleep.
Now, I'm typically against weird things like putting babies in boxes. If a baby's going to sleep, they should have a real bed, with plenty of room to stretch out to sleep, but having little other option at the time, we went with what we had. I had to work with what was available, you know? Thankfully, the little one loved it! I think he likes sleeping in his box more than he likes sleeping in his swing! He loves his box so much that when I took him out of it to let him play in the room the other day, he tried to get back in! Now his box has become his favorite place to play, which is fine with me because I know he's safe in there until my room is finally unpacked, put away, and organized enough to be baby-safe.
Strangely, getting my baby boy to take a nap in a box had another wonderful side-effect. He's decided he wants to sleep in the bed again at night! The past two nights (since the day of the box incident) he's fallen asleep with Daddy in the bed, and stays asleep there for most of the night! I don't know how that worked out, because every other time he hasn't wanted to sleep. He's wanted to play instead. Maybe it's because he's learned to sleep laying down again, instead of propped up by the swing. Maybe it's because taking naps in the box means he doesn't nap as long and is more inspired to get up and play. Whatever it is, he's decided sleeping in the bed is a good idea again.
As for the box, I don't intend to use it for naps again if we don't have to. It was wonderful for what it was, while it lasted, but I think he needs more than that now. His box has been retired as a sleeping space and has now been taken up as a play place, something he seems quite happy with! He really does love his box!
Who would have guessed that something as simple and silly as putting a baby down for a nap in a box would make such a change in our lives? Now our little boy is back in our bed and as happy as can be! Things are just the way we like them.
For a variety of reasons, my littlest one ended up spending a lot of time sleeping in his swing. Some of it was just where he fell asleep and we didn't have the heart to move him. However, it was really pretty well sealed when we went over to cloth diapers. We didn't have enough covers to start with, so our little man would play around while in a diaper without a cover. While this largely wasn't a problem, it kind of was when he went to sleep. If we weren't waking up to check in on him, the moisture would seep through, and having a towel under him wasn't always enough. We started having him sleep in the swing a bit more often, just when there was no cover clean, and before we knew it, it was happening all the time.
It's happened once before and happened again the other day that our little boy couldn't sleep in his swing. He'd gotten a quite explosive diaper and managed to get it everywhere. The swing's seat needed to be washed, but he was too tired to do more than cry. We had no choice but to find somewhere else for him to sleep. We knew putting him on the bed was a bad idea as the room isn't yet baby safe enough for when he wakes up. Instead, we put a pillow on the bottom of a box (more like one of those Rubbermaid storage boxes) and put him down in that to sleep.
Now, I'm typically against weird things like putting babies in boxes. If a baby's going to sleep, they should have a real bed, with plenty of room to stretch out to sleep, but having little other option at the time, we went with what we had. I had to work with what was available, you know? Thankfully, the little one loved it! I think he likes sleeping in his box more than he likes sleeping in his swing! He loves his box so much that when I took him out of it to let him play in the room the other day, he tried to get back in! Now his box has become his favorite place to play, which is fine with me because I know he's safe in there until my room is finally unpacked, put away, and organized enough to be baby-safe.
Strangely, getting my baby boy to take a nap in a box had another wonderful side-effect. He's decided he wants to sleep in the bed again at night! The past two nights (since the day of the box incident) he's fallen asleep with Daddy in the bed, and stays asleep there for most of the night! I don't know how that worked out, because every other time he hasn't wanted to sleep. He's wanted to play instead. Maybe it's because he's learned to sleep laying down again, instead of propped up by the swing. Maybe it's because taking naps in the box means he doesn't nap as long and is more inspired to get up and play. Whatever it is, he's decided sleeping in the bed is a good idea again.
As for the box, I don't intend to use it for naps again if we don't have to. It was wonderful for what it was, while it lasted, but I think he needs more than that now. His box has been retired as a sleeping space and has now been taken up as a play place, something he seems quite happy with! He really does love his box!
Who would have guessed that something as simple and silly as putting a baby down for a nap in a box would make such a change in our lives? Now our little boy is back in our bed and as happy as can be! Things are just the way we like them.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)