Sleep

Before I was pregnant, I needed my 7-8 hours of sleep and I would be good. I even hated naps, although I know a lot of adults love them. When I was pregnant, I looooved my sleep, still taking my 7-8 hours a night, but more often 8-9. I would also take as many naps as I could - they were delicious. When I first had Calder, I was deprived of sleep, as Calder would get up every 2-3 hours to eat. But pretty much as soon as he turned 2 months, he started sleeping longer, 4,5,6 and 7 hours a night. Now we are up to 8 hours a night straight...or so I thought.

Lately Calder has been fighting sleep with a passion - I used to be able to put him down, wide awake - when it was time for bed, and he would talk himself to sleep. Now Calder refuses to go to sleep that way, I have to make sure he falls asleep in my arms, and even then, he often wakes up as soon as I put him in the crib. Lately he's been sleeping not 8 hours, but around 4-5. Very tiring, to say the least.

Well last night, he went to bed as usual at 8:30 pm, and I was hoping he would have a good sleep. Well around 11:15 (I stayed up later than normal as I thought it would be a good night for Calder's sleep) I went in to check on him and he was sleeping on his side. Anyone who knows me knows that I am paranoid about everything, and so I wanted to place him on his back. I got Gary to help me, and we flipped him over. Well, bad move. Calder was awake. I fed him at 11:30 and he proceeded to stay up till 1:30 am, even though I tried many times to put him to sleep. he would not have any of it - he was wide awake and happy - although teething horribly - grinding his gums against my jaw. Finally at 1:30 I thought I would have at least a good 5-6 hours of sleep. Not so. Calder was up at 4:30 and wouldn't fall asleep till 5 - and that was in my arms. At 5 I put him down, he was up at 5:30 again. This time I took him into the bed with me, as it seemed as though the security of being held was the only thing helping him sleep. We slept like that for just 1 hour until 6:30 when he was up to eat. My total amount of sleep last night? 4 1/2. Needless to say I am tired and hoping that tonight goes better. Today we will be working on rolling over from his stomach to his back. Apparently, this is usually the first 'roll' that babies learn/do - but not Calder - he strays from the beaten path and did it the other way around first - from back to stomach. Problem is, he doesn't quite yet know how to get from his stomach to his back, and as a result is often found doing a face plant and heard crying while doing this. a number of times I or Gary have found him in a face plant in the middle of the night, and once I found him sleeping on his stomach. I guess he gave up trying to get back over and fell asleep.

Sweet dreams, everyone.

Elizabeth (aka Calder's Mommy)