Monday, March 4, 2013

Transition to the Crib

Since having Weston, one of the most frequently asked questions we receive is: " Are you getting any sleep?" Yes, we are getting sleep. Enough sleep? Absolutely not!

Weston has been a much better sleeper than Amaya was at this age, although Amaya was sleeping through the night by now with the exception of a feeding at 3am. Steve paced and paced with Amaya to soothe her and she took a lot of her naps in the car seat until she'd wake up 30 minutes later, then I'd rock her back to sleep. Aside from some gas pain that makes him a little fussy, Weston typically will go right to sleep, wake up to eat and then go right back to sleep. No pacing and no rocking. Of course, he rather be sleeping in someone's arms and on his tummy! He's been usually going to sleep between 9-10pm and we can usually get anywhere from 4-6 hours from him. Then he's ready to eat anywhere from 5-7:30am. It's not the best schedule, but at least he's content falling back asleep in the bassinet. Just as Steve and I were beginning to get some better sleep, we changed things up with little Wes and unfortunately, it's been a little bit of a challenge getting our good little sleeper to sleep.

Saturday night, we decided since he was quickly outgrowing the bassinet, we should transition him to the crib. Plus, with me going back to work in 2 weeks, we figured it would be best to transition him now. We were hoping the transition would be as smooth with Amaya (that's when she started sleeping through the night), but as we are quickly learning, every child is different. The first night, he had difficulty settling down because he had a big gas bubble - unfortunately, we didn't realize that until a half an hour later when he finally burped. Once he got that gas bubble out, he was able to sleep. Then he was awake from 2-4am.  I fed him right away at 2am and thought he was done... surely after 40 minutes, he should be full! But after crying for another half an hour (us thinking it was gas pain), he wanted to eat AGAIN! (And I'm still nursing on demand and not on a schedule...yet) So... another 40 minutes or so... he was finally in a deep "milk induced coma." He slept until about 7:30am. Overall, an ok night - we all survived and managed through Sunday with some caffeine and a cat nap.

Last night, I thought for sure he would be exhausted from all the activity at my parent's house. He had only slept an hour or so in my brother's arms in the evening, so surely he would eat one more time and then conk out. WRONG! Little man was WIDE awake after eating at 9pm, so we watched Iron Chef - he got drowsy - we put him to bed - he woke up mad - I held him and we watched the news - he got drowsy - we put him to bed - he woke up mad and wanted to eat AGAIN! Then around 11:15pm, he was finally ready to sleep. He woke up around 2:30am to eat, took a little bit for him to settle down when he was done at 3:10am and woke up again to eat at 6:30am. Fortunately, I was able to get him to sleep a little longer in bed with me... I know, I know... I should have put him back in the crib, but I'll admit, I kinda like snuggling with him! I got up at 7:30am to get ready and get Amaya off to school. We got some snow last night, so my parent's graciously offered to take her to school so I wouldn't have to deal with the snow and bring Weston out in it. Little Wes, slept until 8:40am to say hello to my parents when they picked up Amaya. And now, after a bath and his breakfast... he's sleeping in the crib...

So... are we getting any sleep? Yes... is it enough... no. But, we're making progress (I hope!). It would be so much easier to hold him all the time and rock him to sleep... but little man needs to learn to fall asleep on his own without help from Mom and Dad. It'll make our life a lot easier in the long run. Short term pain for long term gain, right? So next time you see us, you may offer us a cup of coffee - the stronger the better!