Oh, Vivienne my three month old baby girl, we took a wrong turn somewhere. You went from being an okay sleeper to a terrible, no good, very bad one. Perhaps it was our vacation to Chicago because things really started to go down hill once we got home. You were sleeping for a 5 hour stretch at night, which was good but not great. However, once we got back, we were lucky to get 3 hours out of you. Most nights it was between 1.5 and 2 hours. FYI, your mama cannot survive on such little bursts of sleep. In addition, you used to wake up, eat and go right back to sleep, but after the wrong turn, you were UP!
Well, desperate times call for desperate measures. Three phone calls and one visit to the Dr.'s office later, we have a game plan and I am cautiously optimistic. First, we are working on consolidating your day sleep. No more snoozes and if you go down for a nap, you're in for at least an hour. This, I am happy to report is going very well.
In addition, we have decided to go the "cry it out" road because of its supposed effectiveness and efficiency (results within 3 nights). So last night, was the first night we tried to wean you off your 1am feeding and you woke up at 12am not having any of it. During the past week, your day sleep consolidation naturally led to you going not fewer than 3 hours at night...a small victory. Anyway, back to last night. You cried/SCREAMED for you two hours straight. Yes, I could hear your grandmother's heart breaking all of the way from Michigan, but we made a plan and we were going to stick to it. The whole time I just kept telling myself, "It has to work. It has to work."
I am encouraged that we have turned the terrible sleeper bus around and are heading down the mommy can start dreaming again highway. You are currently taking a well-timed nap and went down with minimal fussing.
In other 3 month old news, your head is getting much less wobbly and we've even put you in the bumbo seat a few times. You and I took the most delicious nap together earlier today because it's finally cooling down calling for much snuggling, warm jammies and blankets. You love your play gym and are quite the expert at the vibrating froggie and a master at the musical panda.
I think that you are quite a social gal and are generally in good spirits if there are other people around you. I'm hoping your irritability is a result of your poor sleeping and anticipate your mood improving as we get this sleeping thing gets worked out. It's shocking how much one family's life can be held hostage by a 12 pound 8 ounce girl's sleep issues.
It is also shocking, even now, how much we love you. My heart swells each time I look at you even after 2 hours of relentless crying. I cherish you.
No comments:
Post a Comment