A week or two ago, I was feeling truly desperate from lack of sleep. Dio was waking up even more than usual, sometimes every hour and a half. And I didn't feel much hope for the near (or semi-near) future, since Zari woke up every 2-3 hours at night until she was 20 months old.
And then this week, out of the blue, Dio started sleeping 5-hour stretches at night, sometimes even twice in a row. Take last night: He went to bed at 7 pm and started fussing around 10:30 pm (his usual time to wake up). We let him cry for a few minutes to see if he'd fall back asleep. He did. He woke up a bit after midnight, came into bed with me, and nursed back to sleep. And then we both slept until 5 am! I nursed him again and then had to use a bit of coaxing to get him back to sleep. He woke up for the morning a bit before 7 am.
It was not the world's best sleep, but having that one 5-hour stretch was wonderful. For those of you who have been in my shoes, you know how nice that feels
And an extra bonus--Dio woke up this morning completely dry. A first for him!
Your post has made me feel so optimistic...my son is about two months younger than Dio and I love reading about Dio's world as it seems to resemble Fin's so closely. Fin is in the midst of nighttime feeding frenzies - sometimes I think he hasn't let go all night, despite me drifting in and out of sleep. It's great to know that there may be a light at the end of the tunnel!
ReplyDeleteYou are a wonderful woman and I so enjoy reading your blog. I am no longer breastfeeding my daughter (15 months) but reading your blog makes me miss those days already. Mine still wakes up for a bottle at night at 15 months, every 3 or 4 hours, and most definitely isn't dry. That's impressive!!!
ReplyDeleteOh, that is wonderful! My first was like that and it is so discouraging and exhausting and mind-numbing to lose so much sleep for so long.
ReplyDeleteHurrah!
I think I posted this too soon--last night was probably THE worst we've had with him ever. Sigh...yawn...
ReplyDeleteI went through this with my daughter. I am still going through it, but it is not nearly as bad as it used to be. At one point, I simply could not function. I decided I had to do something. I could not do a good job parenting her. I owed it to her and myself. At 23 months, I night-weaned. I will not lie; it was hard, really hard, especially the first night. But it was worth it. We now get five to seven hours of uninterrupted sleep. I feel like a new woman! The next thing for us to work on is for her to sleep near me, on a mattress on the floor next to our bed, for example. Currently, she must fall asleep with her hand on my breast and she kicks a fair bit in her sleep. So it's hard for the three of us to sleep comfortable on our queen-size bed! I wish all of you the very best. I know how frustrating and exhausting it is.
ReplyDeleteReading you post and then reading your comment, I just feel like I should tell you that you're not alone. My five year old is the only one who really does a good job of sleeping through the night, but as difficult as it is, I know that there is a reward in mothering them through the night, as opposed to letting them cry in abandonment. And as long as those nights seem, the years sure go by in a flash.
ReplyDeleteOh, I'm thrilled to hear this! Hooray!
ReplyDeleteI love these Ergo baby carrriers and other sling contraptiond for carrying your baby around. So somfortable and easy to use....cant be better !
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