My 9-month-old DD slept all the way through the night last night! As in a real deal Holyfield 12+ hours of precious sleep from 7:30pm until 8:15am. But did her mama also sleep through the night? Hell no! Because apparently I am so used to the shitty routine of her waking my ass up between 2 and 4 am that I actually woke myself up imagining I had heard her cries on the monitor. When I went to check she was sound asleep on her tummy with her head in the corner of her crib. Yes, it was my mind playing tricks on me. Fuck!
Now I'm obsessed with replicating last night's conditions. She was wearing jeans and a blue polo shirt to bed (no time for jammies - when I saw her rub her eyes and yawn I just put her to bed as is). Check. Last night was the first night I had put her in a size 4 disposable diaper. Check. I put a half-full bottle of formula in the crib with her and 2 blankets. Check. Check. The fan was on a medium setting. Check. I put her down drowsy but awake at 7:31pm and let her cry, watching the clock for a looooong 6 minutes, until she fell asleep = tension releaser. Check. We shall see what transpires tonight, bitches...
I was fully awake and out of bed by 4:30 am after about an hour of unsuccessfully trying to go back to sleep. So I decided to just get up and get shit done until one of my kids woke up. Turns out it was DS at 7:15. But I got a lot done in almost 3 uninterrupted hours there: Uploaded & shared vacation photos from almost a month ago. Sprayed weeds. Wrote an encouraging note to Skeletor in anorexia rehab. Showered. I like that feeling of accomplishment so early on a Saturday before the heat of the day sets in, so much so that I might make the extreme early wake up a habit.... or not!
12 comments:
Oh! Send some of those good sleep vibes our way, please!
I hope your good sleep continues. It is very disorienting when they start sleeping through the night, isn't it?
Same thing happened to me 4 nights ago, when Zoe decided she'd sleep thru. I was up first, to go to the loo; second, to pull down the blinds when the storm started up; third, just for the hell of it, so I went to the loo again.
The next night ( she slept thru again), I slept a full 8 hours (!!) the first time in 4 months, I think.
I hope it continues for your guys. Zoe has now slept 4 nights thru in a row. Either it's the tokens (she gets one each night she sleeps thru) working their magic, or she is coming out of this regression. Then again, it might be all just a fluke.
Prior to having Miss Moo, I thought my mother in law was some kind of non-sleeping freak. She seemed to average maybe 6 hours a night... My new theory (formed in a haze of night wakings and the first bout of insomnia I have ever experienced) is that after having 6 kids, she has simply lost the ability to sleep! This is terrifying. The worry of never being able to enjoy a full nights sleep again is practically keeping me up at night!
Seriously though - long may the good sleep continue for you.
So. Very. Jealous.
:)
That happened to me once. When DS was three months old and still waking countless times a night, he once (and only once) slept from 2:30 a.m. until 7:30 a.m. And, wouldn't you know it, that was the night I never fell back to sleep after the 2:30 feed. I remember being extremely bitter about that. Especially since I had not (up to that point) had a 4 hour stretch of sleep, and it didn't happen again for several more months. Motherhood's name is irony sometimes.
I have this funny image of you putting your DD to bed in jeans from here on out. Let us know if it was a fluke or not.
So very typical of my experience, too. I had to be sleep trained, as well!
I'm torn about asking you for updates on this, because talking about sleep jinxes it.
On a side note, we did the nasty (though I wasn't much into it), and we now have a few child-free days, since she's at the grandparents. Let there be sex!
Oh I love nights like that!! I can count them on one hand but boy were they the bomb! :) Being awake in the morning when the boy is still sleeping is a good way to start the day - feels almost indulgent yet refreshing.
I'm so happy for you and hope you have many many more!
You people who just get up are crazy though. I will lie in bed for hours just trying to get back to sleep, though it usually doesn't take me too long. I'm impressed with people who get things done, but it's hard enough to drag my butt out of bed after a good night, let alone just get up early to do something (like yoga) before the kids are up. I'm trying though.
I love it when they sleep through like that but just hate it when I can't! Oh the irony! Its just so unfair!
I've also had the odd night where Annie sleeps longer than normal, and I wake up at 4:00 a.m. all freaked out that something's wrong. So I go rushing into her room in a panic but there she is, sleeping soundly. Then I can't get back to sleep until literally moments before she wakes up.
But I'm like caramama when I can't sleep - I don't get up. I lay there for hours, tossing and turning and trying to sleep. I just can't drag my butt out of bed, and I figure that while there's little chance I'll fall asleep again laying there, there's zero chance if I get up.
Oh, the utter ecstasy of a baby sleeping! Too bad you didn't reap all of the benefits, but it still sounds like it was a welcome reprieve. I hope it continues, even if off and on for a while, until she settles into a good sleep routine. From my hazy memory of sleep deprivation (not that long ago), it took a good many months to really get them sleeping through on most nights and another few months to feel really rested even when I was sleeping well. Enjoy the steps toward heavenly sleep.
@zenmoo, I too have heard of women who can no longer sleep after having babies. I will say, after having had two who now sleep successfully thru most nights, I have no trouble sleeping 8-9 hours. I think it just depends on the person. Don't worry, you may very well enjoy those full nights of sleep again.
@all of you who can't sleep through the night even when baby does: one of the books in my vast collection on baby's sleep, called Sleeping Through the Night by Jodi Mindell, there is an entire chapter on how common it is for moms (and dads) to find that they can't sleep through the night anymore after months of having to get up with baby. It disrupts and changes your sleep habits, and as an adult, changing a sleep habit back to the way it was is extremely difficult.
Sucks it bigtime. The two times Annie did sleep through the night (like a 7 glorious hour stretch) I did not. Gah! Boo! Yawn.
@Cloud - Definitely disorienting! Now I need to re-learn how to sleep thru the night (at least until the next sleep regression).
@Paola - Great news about Miss Zoe!
@zenmoo - Welcome & thank you for commenting! Your MIL's sleep issues are common to mothers of many children like that (like both my grandmothers), which is sad/scary. And too bad.
@Nej - Don't be jealous yet. We'll see if it continues beyond a few nights.
@Jac - The funny image in your head is exactly what I've been doing.... don't laugh. She sleeps great in her jeans.
@Claudia - Yay for doing the nasty!!! Keep at it!!!!
@mom2boy - We're still counting those nights on one hand, too... here's to eventually losing count!
@caramama - I know how crazy we are, but I'm afraid short of drugs there's nothing I can do to change. (sad face).
@Melba - It is ironic and unfair - totally! Thank you for the book rec!
@blue - I can't believe I might have a child here who settles into a good sleep routine. There, I probably just jinxed it.
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