Friday, March 05, 2010

4am is the new wake-up time




I'm not in the least bit superstitious BUT these babies may change me sooner rather than later.

The babies have their supper at 4 pm like old people :) and then the last bottle at 5.30 - 6.00.

Kendra always has her full bottle but Connor sometimes doesn't want it, or he'll only have a bit (75 - 90 ml).

So then he wakes at 10 or 11 pm for a feed which is all fine since I'm still awake.

Earlier this week we had two nights of Connor waking only once at 10 pm and then sleeping through until 5.30. No middle of the night waking up.

Coincidentally Kendra also slept better these nights only waking once, so they DO affect one another's sleep.

I didn't want to jinx things by writing about it on THIS blog but was still excited so when I left a comment on Mommy Esq's blog, I added it in there, foolishly thinking that a comment on someone else's blog doesn't count. See, Mommy Esq has been "encouraging" me to let them cry it out but I'm still being a big baby about it.

And yes, I jinxed it!

The next two nights we had later wakings in the early hours of the morning but at least they were still only once a night.

Being a scientist-type person at heart, I'm looking for cause and effect. He ate lentils and a minced beef casserole those two days. The boy might just go on a permanent diet of lentils and minced beef!

But last night, he woke at 12 and at 4. They both woke at 4 actually. Kendra held her bottle nicely but Connor was being lazy. Of course I was not having that so eventually he "twigged" and held his bottle.

I went back to bed and he was moaning-crying (as if for attention or something else) but I just left him. He usually drinks his bottle, I change nappy if necessary and he goes to sleep IMMEDIATELY. He needs to learn that this new trick of his is not acceptable at 4 am.

It kept me awake for about 15 minutes but eventually tiredness overtook me and I slept until 8.15 this morning. Got to work just after 9. Terrible!

P.S. On the bright side, I arrived together with a guy from legal whose wife just had their 2nd baby (their first born is 19 months - also IVF, but with Medfem) and we were chatting about sleep. He says about the 19-month old, "we consider it a good night if we make it through until 4", so it's not just my kids!

7 comments:

  1. 4? Ugh! Minx has just started a 5-5.30am wake up and we groggily go deal with her - and I'm not going off to paid work ;)

    May they sleep beautifully tonight (until at least 4.30 :) ) and you have a lovely weekend :)

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  2. Wishing you more luck on the sleeping thing. And those pics are just precious!!!!

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  3. Yikes! I've been getting 4 hours of sleep a night because of my job and I'm a mess. I keep thanking my lucky stars my kids are predictible sleepers - especially because their friend the Duchess only sleeps 9 pm - 4:00 am most nights (at 18 months!) and sometimes cries for an hour at night. Her poor parents.

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  4. Sorry to hear about your sleep issues. Tarynn (my four month old) had a period of doing that. What I did that stopped it (and couldn't hurt to try!) is I fed her ever 2-3 hours during the day, basically trying to get all her formula intake in her for the day, during the day. Then went she woke up in the middle of the night (I knew she wasn't hungery because she had been going through the night since 6 weeks old) I would go in, comfort her, and lay her back down. If she fussed, no biggy, if she cried, I was right there trying again. By three nights of doing this, she is back to sleeping through the night.

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  5. I love the pictures! Kendra and Connor are so close to being 8 months old! Wow! time flies!!!

    We haven't figured out anything more with sleeping either. So, you're definitely not alone. Josiah is in a pattern of falling asleep around 9:30, waking up at 1:30 and 3:30 and then 6 and 9. I usually go to bed around midnight, so he first wakes up an hour after I've fallen asleep (or sometimes right as I'm crawling into bed). Last night he went to bed at 11:30 and STILL woke up at 1:30. I think it has to do with learning to crawl, but don't know what to do. Right now, it's still working for us and I think he'll grow out of it soon. I don't know, but you're definitely not alone.

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  6. It is certainly not just you. Either one or the other of my babies is up every single night...it's like they take turns on which one gets a full night's sleep...when is it my turn though??? Whine, whine...yawn!

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  7. Might want to buy stock in the company that makes the lentils and a minced beef casserole flavor anyway, just in case ;-)

    Loving the sweet, sweet pic of them interacting together. Then again each and every one you post are extra precious!

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