Sleeplessness

Lately, Isabel has been difficult to get to sleep and sleep well. Its been about 3 weeks since we moved her to her room and crib.

At first she went to sleep like a dream and did her usual one time a night wake up. However, in the last week or so she's been tough to put down and keep asleep.

I have gotten lots of advice, reading books and comparing notes with other moms.

What have I learned through my sleep deprived haze?

1. Everyone has an opinion ;)


2. My baby is apparently a 'high need baby' meaning she needs alot of holding, attention and closeness (sounds like all babies right? Apparently not, I know more babies now and see how different temperaments each baby can have)


3. Crying it out has been the resounding solution I have gotten from friends, her pedi, and some books


4. Isabel is a energizer baby when left to cry, she just keeps going and going tirelessly

At first I was totally against letting her cry it out. I thought it was mean. But after night after night of crying when she wakes several times a night and she's full, clean diaper and even being held I felt desperate. So I let her cry for up to 15 minutes.

Result?

She would get more and more frantic, the cries didn't die down and she was clearly freaked out. After some reading about 'high need babies' I learned some babies just can't cry it out to learn to self soothe. They will just cry hysterically and if then get scared and cry some more.

That sounds like Isabel.

So it may seem like I am catering to her too much but we all got to sleep. Last night I decided to put her down one more time in her room. She went down and as I was blogging 30m in, she woke up and wouldn't go back down. Ugh. That was 10pm.

Finally I brought her to my room and she fell asleep peacefully and into her PNP 10m later. She woke up at 1am and I nursed her, fell asleep with her next to me and she didn't wake up for good until 9am!!

Obviously, I don't want her in my bed all night but having her in our room may be but she needs for now. Maybe she has seperation anxiety?

This is just a sleep deprived mama trying to figure it out and go with her gut. Its so funny because I never thought I would have so much trouble with her sleeping and end up having her sleep next to me. That's like the one rule I had before she was born...LOL how things change.

Of course, there are other reasons for her crying in the middle of the night:

1. Teething


2. Hunger (yes, I do nurse her most times)


3. Growth spurt


4. Too hot/cold


5. Dirty diaper

So after attempting to eliminate all those and she still cries, you can imagine its frustrating!

On the upside, Isabel is thriving, well loved and developing so fast! This week she mastered rolling over and the raspberry!

She is a doll, giggles like crazy and is really good at entertaining herself which is awesome!

If we could get her sleep under control, I know I would feel a bit less frazzled and run down and yet I think I am doing ok. I am napping with her a bit more and pacing myself. Exercising helps too.

Can't wait for spring!