Thursday, December 21, 2006

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

A few thoughts on sleep, or lack thereof:
  • You know you're tired when you don't want to eat something because chewing would be too strenuous. Particularly when the item in question is chocolate.
  • We are making progress on the wee-hours-of-the-night weaning, but I discovered that it is much more exhausting to me NOT to nurse her than to nurse. However, we persevere, as the not-eating-but-biting in the morning is not ok.
  • Cait finds night nursing and night non-nursing equally disruptive. Apparently, according to The No-Cry Sleep Solution, my sleep cycles are synchronized with Natalie's where Cait's may not be, hence the sleep nursing is less bothersome to Natalie and me, but rather intrusive for Cait.
  • It is unclear how Natalie feels about the whole proposition, however, she is making it VERY clear at this precise moment that she needs to nurse NOW. Since it is before the 3:00 am closing of the diner, I am off to oblige her. More thoughts later.

8 Comments:

  • When Natalie figures this out, please have her give Evelyn a call. At 3:30am last night, she wanted to play, not nurse, PLAY! Smiles, giggles, let-me-see-what-happens-when-I-grab-your-face play. Time to catch some of those elusive zzzzzzzz's

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:33 PM  

  • Nat sweetie. Youre a big girl now. You eat big girl food, make big girl poops, pull yourself up on things, are totally mobile and make your feelings known in so many new ways. You are the joy of your mommies lives.
    You however, no longer need to nurse during the night. In fact, you havent needed to nurse during the night for months. Loving to nurse is something you share with a lot of babies. Youre not alone. You need to learn to savor that last nursing of the night, knowing that the Mommies will be there and even more loving in the morning if you let them get a full nights sleep.
    Sweet dreams princess for you are very loved.

    Note from a former nursing Mom, my youngest was the same. I finally had to buck up, cry along with him for two nights. From then on he slept through. Just a habit to break.

    By Blogger Anotheramy, at 10:35 PM  

  • Hang in there girls..it gets better. Right now it's probably more like a pacifier to her, than a meal. Comfort, if you will.

    My 2 girls did the same. They were thumbsuckers, and that was a HUGE bonus, because they learned (after 3 nights of fussing) how to re-settle themselves, instead of getting a midnight snack (no pacifier flinging!). They weren't really awake anyway, just enough to fuss a bit. Which caused me to run in and feed them.

    Since I resolved to avoid picking them up, and then eventually didn't go in until they were back to sleep to check them and cover them, they really smoothed out their own night clock to where they slept right through. Twelve hours straight. No lie. And boy, they needed it.

    They still function best with 10-12 hours straight sleep at night. There's no skimping on sleep for my girls. They can't go on 8 or 9 hours.

    You moms hang in there. You can do it!!! Whatever you figure out it going to be what's best for you. But just take heart that, although it might be a rough few days, you'll persevere.

    You're helping set up her sleep pattern for all of her childhood, so it's important to get the through-the-night thing down pat. You're gonna do great!!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:16 AM  

  • I remember this, how it was easier to just yank up my shirt and nurse the boy back to sleep... but after 14 months of it, it wasn't cute, and I wasn't pretty. I'd inadvertently taught the boy that he HAD to nurse to fall asleep, and it took a few even-more-sleepless nights to teach him otherwise. But it all worked out in the end.

    If you want any more of my thoughts on the night-weaning process (which wasn't that bad, esp. considering we were cosleeping), email me. Wishing all three of you sweet dreams....

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:49 AM  

  • I HATE the "Hey, it's 2am - what's going on for you, let's hang out for about, oh, 2 hours!" thing.

    UGH. JUST when MP3 was starting to sleep through again, off we go to Chicago, where I kid you not, the kid was up 3 times between midnight and 5am.

    It felt like month 2, all over again.

    Lots of luck with the VERY hungry Naterpillar. keep us posted as to how quickly she can learn to read the 'closed" sign on the window of the diner...

    By Blogger Shelli, at 11:37 PM  

  • Charlie still nurses all night long. I don't know how to break him of it and at this point I don't really want to try. It was the only comfort he could get for so long that now it seems like he just can't let go. Of course, it's ME he can't let go of. I can't remember the last time he wanted AJ to nurse him at night.

    By Blogger Estelle, at 12:19 PM  

  • Oh you poor things! I get the shivers remembering the middle-of-the-night feedings. My DD refused to nurse so I pumped and it was a DRAG and a half! Have you ever seen the baby onesie that says, "Night night mommy, see you in two hours?" It's funny if someone else's baby is wearing it!

    Hope you two catch some ZZzzzzs soon =)

    P.S. Oh, and MANY congrats on the legal mumbo jumbop finally being complete! Love the new family pics!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:54 PM  

  • Just read your lovely blog for a long time... Natalie is beautiful and congratulations to you both on the finalization of the courthouse crap!

    Oh, and enjoy the nursing now(even in the middle of the night). It truly goes too quickly and you will find yourself missing it someday!! (sob... my baby just self-weaned, can you tell?)

    By Blogger tracey.becker1@gmail.com, at 12:32 AM  

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