Sleepless
For the last two weeks or so, Satchel has not slept....at ALL! (Satchel has never slept through the night 'cept for two nights in two years) However, he recently seemed to fall into a pattern...a glorious pattern...of only waking me 2-3 times per night. Somehow my body had adjusted to this and I was able to function, even feel well rested. I was able to stay up late like a grown-up and work on my art instead of falling asleep at 8 pm with Satch.
BUT for the last two weeks he's been waking me on the average of 10-12 times. One night it seemed to be every 30 minutes. He doesn't appear ill, he simply won't sleep...and he wants to nurse all day and all night. This too is odd because he had shown signs of self-weaning and would often go the whole day without nursing and only nursed at nap time or bed time. These nights I feel like a stone that is being skipped across a lake, just as I begin to sink into sleep I am forced upward and onward towards the shore of morning without coming to a rest.
Yesterday I was so exhausted I was unable to take Satch out in the sunshine to play. I didn't have the strength to get dressed and remained in my pajamas ALL day. "Play blocks", he said, "Play cars"! And I did...I played. In the evening he patted my leg and said, "mama", then patted his chest and said, "happy". I was relieved that I was able to make it through without bursting into tears or collapsing into a rumpled heap on the floor because the truth is I'm so tired that I ache....and I was happy that he was happy. Last night I got one 2 hour stretch of sleep. I am trying to make it to through the week. I just don't know what to do...I keep telling myself that it will pass.
*It should be noted that Satch is a co-sleeping child. His bedtime and nap time are dictated by his own circadian rhythm, not mine, not a schedule from a book. We simply watched for his cues and adjusted our lives accordingly. He usually naps between 2-3pm and is ready for bed between 8-8:30pm. He never resists going to bed...he goes happily and I with him.
Has anyone else experienced this?
(By the way, I am STILL reading the book "Last Child in the Woods" by Richard Louv and I have so much I want to say about it, but it will have to wait until I have the energy)
BUT for the last two weeks he's been waking me on the average of 10-12 times. One night it seemed to be every 30 minutes. He doesn't appear ill, he simply won't sleep...and he wants to nurse all day and all night. This too is odd because he had shown signs of self-weaning and would often go the whole day without nursing and only nursed at nap time or bed time. These nights I feel like a stone that is being skipped across a lake, just as I begin to sink into sleep I am forced upward and onward towards the shore of morning without coming to a rest.
Yesterday I was so exhausted I was unable to take Satch out in the sunshine to play. I didn't have the strength to get dressed and remained in my pajamas ALL day. "Play blocks", he said, "Play cars"! And I did...I played. In the evening he patted my leg and said, "mama", then patted his chest and said, "happy". I was relieved that I was able to make it through without bursting into tears or collapsing into a rumpled heap on the floor because the truth is I'm so tired that I ache....and I was happy that he was happy. Last night I got one 2 hour stretch of sleep. I am trying to make it to through the week. I just don't know what to do...I keep telling myself that it will pass.
*It should be noted that Satch is a co-sleeping child. His bedtime and nap time are dictated by his own circadian rhythm, not mine, not a schedule from a book. We simply watched for his cues and adjusted our lives accordingly. He usually naps between 2-3pm and is ready for bed between 8-8:30pm. He never resists going to bed...he goes happily and I with him.
Has anyone else experienced this?
(By the way, I am STILL reading the book "Last Child in the Woods" by Richard Louv and I have so much I want to say about it, but it will have to wait until I have the energy)
6 Comments:
Wendy, all of my children have done something similar, and my mother in law calls it a "changeover". I've learned to recognize with each subsequent child, that its their bodies way of transitioning into another stage of learning/growing. Think of it in terms of growth spurts. Remember how at 3 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, babies will nurse more, wake more, as they enter a growth spurt? Its sort of the same thing.
Hang in there, just because its normal, doesn't make it easy :)
i have not a bit of advice, but i do know how you feel. ahhh, sleep. i hope you get some soon!
Wendy, my daughter used to do the same thing and sometimes she has days where all she wants to do is nurse and it is hard. I used to sleep in the same room with her (she in her crib, I in a bed) because she woke up so much I was too exhausted to walk down the hall. I stopped sleeping in her room at 16 months and she almost instantly started sleeping longer at night and only waking me up once. She is now 18 months and once or twice a week she will sleep the whole night but occasionally she does the opposite too and wakes me more. Maybe it is a growth spurt, but I think for my daughter it is also her teething.
Hang in there, hopefully it will get better soon.
thank you, THANK YOU...all, as always, for your support and encouragement!
xoxoxo
is it teeth perhaps? molars?
i'm a co-sleeping mama too, so rare!
wish i knew. this morning he woke up and his nose was quite stuffy. he completely freaks about using saline spray and i don't want to traumatize him, but i can here the congestion. still the sleeplessness has been going on well before the congestion appeared. i'm too tired to figure it out.
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