Sleep

I'm obsessed with it.

I looooove it.

So why doesn't my daughter?

Oh it's really not all that bad. It just isn't consistent. Some nights she has her last feeding at 8 pm and goes for nine hours. She might wake up once before then but a paci will usually hold her off. Other nights she only goes five or six hours before needing to eat. The problem is, once she eats she only goes another four or five hours max more before waking up and wanting to eat again. So if she wakes up to eat at 1:00 am, she might wake again at 5:00 am and then it's broken choppy sleep until 7:30 or 8:00.

(If I read this post the first two weeks after I'd given birth, I would have slapped myself upside the head for complaining. Sleeping four or five hours straight would have only been a far off dream of mine then.)

She is so tired in the evenings. She's really done by 6 or 6:30. I hesitate to put her to bed this early for fear of her not getting enough daytime feedings in and being up all night. Last night I was reading some things that said the earlier they get to bed the better they sleep because they're not overtired. She had gotten enough feedings in yesterday so I feed her for the last time at 7 instead of 8, and put her down an hour earlier than usual.

I'm going to blame last night on a bad coincidence.

She stirred and needed soothing (a paci in and a pat) at 10, 11:00, 11:30 (DH was still up thank goodness). I fed her at 1:30. She cried out a few times after that but went back to sleep on her own. She then woke at 4:00, 4:30, 5:00 and I finally had to feed her at 5:30, followed by waking at 7:30 and never really going back to sleep even though she was tired.

She was basically restless all night. I have narrowed it down to three (okay four) possibilities:

1) Her reflux meds are wearing off and we need a freshly compounded prescription (I totally agree with you Carrie- one month is bullshit, it stops working after two weeks). I put in a call to our pharmacy but they are giving me the "It's too soon" crap. I emailed my doctor instead. Hopefully we'll get this squared away soon, but not before the weekend of course.

2) She is going through some kind of growth spurt and was genuinely hungry. Starting solids has not helped her sleep longer consistently. That's bullshit too.

3) She might be teething already. It has been drool central and she pulls our fingers into her mouth and bites down HARD. I know it's a little early. I try to inspect her gums but her tongue is always in the way.

4) She is just a high maintenance baby and always has been.


I can't wait until I get some kind of "all clear" to let her go all night without feeding her. I wouldn't mind dealing with her waking if I knew it wasn't because of hunger. It would rid me of some guilt. I constantly wonder, "Is she hungry? Should I feed her?" My gut tells me that most of time it is not hunger. I really think she only needs to eat once during the night, not twice. If she didn't have the slow weight gain I probably wouldn't give in like I do. It's not the feeding I mind, that doesn't take long, it's the holding her upright for 25 minutes after (because of her reflux) that is the real drag. If she wakes and I feed her, we are looking at 45 minutes to an hour before I can get back to bed.

How long do your babies go without eating at night? When did you get rid of the middle of the night feed? Thoughts please. . .