It came out of nowhere. Until he turned 10 weeks we were up every night at 12:45, 4:45. and sometimes for good measure 6:45. I figured that maybe I would get lucky and he would drop that 12:45 feed, but no, my little guy seemed to be holding on to his schedule for dear life. Then, one day, he didn't wake up. Of course, when I awoke at 4 and realized I hadn't heard him, I rushed upstairs to make sure he was still breathing (he was) woke him, fed him, and went back to sleep. The next night he did the same, and I again, woke him, and fed him. Realizing, it was crazy to keep waking him up, I called the pediatrician and asked for" permission" to let him sleep through. I was told that as long as he was feeding 6-7 times a day (he was) and peeing an equal number (that too) than I should pinch myself, thank a higher power, and let that baby snooze away. I happily complied.
For 9 blissful days, I put him down at 7:15 pm and didn't see his chubby, smiling face, until almost 8 am the next morning. OMG I felt like I had my life back. No more freaking out at 9:30 pm that I would be up in less than two hours, no more walking around like a zombie all day, no more hiding from my 4 year old, under the covers, when he came to get me in the morning. I was almost a human again. Almost.
Just when I thought it was safe again to go out with my hubby or friends, and have that second glass of wine, my little guy has gone and turned the switch again and Tuesday was up at 5am (after a night out with the girls (ouch) and last night we were back to our 12:45, and 4:45 routine again.
WTF???????
I keep telling myself that maybe it is just a 12 week growth spurt (is there such a thing?) Or that maybe it was some freakish circumstance... gas, a nightmare, hell, maybe a ghost? Anything, ANYTHING other than the fact that I am going to be back on the up all night track... again!
Crap. Maybe it's time to start praying.
Did any of you go through this with your little ones. Did they tempt you with a night of sleep and then rip it away the second you started to take advantage of it? Is he too young to bribe him with a new car? Trip around the world? College on an opposite coast? A gold watch?
He's got two more weeks of this. Now that I know he can make it though, don't think Dr. Ferber hasn't crossed my mind. You hear me baby Gray. 2 more weeks!
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Our first kid tortured me in the same fashion. I sympathize greatly. But our 3rd child slept thru the night at 7 days old, and the pediatrician admonished me for allowing this. Wake her up, they ordered me sternly. I ignored them and she continued to sleep thru the night and gained weight.
But back to your problem: drink caffeine in the day and hang in there. At 3 months of age, we made the other two cry it out. AND we offered a bottle of formula at the 11 pm feeding. (we might have done half formula/half br milk). Some suggest that formula has more bulk than br milk. Whatever, it worked for us. At 12 weeks they went from 11 pm to 6 am.
Hi! I don't really comment here much, but I do read your blog when I have time, and it's one of my favorites. I think I saw you at Whole Foods today! I almost said something but figured it might seem kind of weird since I'm just a random reader. Anyway, your boys are super cute! ;-)
Try just comforting him andNOT lifting him out of his bed however I bet if you let him cry and didn't go in he would be back asleep in ten minutes. I got used to listen to the sounds of the cry, D would cry a lot while he was dreaming (while he was awake too) so I would wait at least 10 minutes before rushing in and there were many nights between the two of htem that i prayed to god for them to stay asleep and they did: The prayer went like this, "Please god let him/her go back to sleep"...My MIL told me that that doing a feeding at 11 pm would be enough to set them until 6 once they were 10+ weeks so they weren't waking up from hunger just habit. YOu my dear need a good 6-7 hrs of sleep everynight.
Kate... oh I can only imagine what was happening during the after school Whole Foods run! I'm guessing the big one was chowing down on a coking, while the little one was hanging off me in one of his many contraptions :). You should have said hello, although I can guarantee you that I would have turned bright red!!!
Thank you ladies for the advice! The last 3 nights I have been giving him a solid 5-10 minutes to see if he will go back and two of the four he has! Back to his solid 12 hours. Whew. The flip side is the nights he is starving at 4 he eats and sleeps until 9... hard to decide which is better!!!!!
xoxo
heh, what can you do..except wait for them to grow up.
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