when in doubt, choose C
Posted by kyden on Friday Jun 11, 2010 Under Uncategorizedabout month ago, i wrote about how daddy, the sleep master, sleep-trained me. mommy went away for two days, and when she came home i was practically sleeping through the night. yay, right? yeah, well, that didn’t last for long. i quickly reverted to my twice-nightly waking/feeding schedule and it seemed like that’s just how it was going to be. mommy was ok with that.
and it’s not that i don’t know how to soothe myself back to sleep when i wake up — i do. mommy always lets me fuss for awhile to see if i’ll settle back down. but when i stand up, bang on my crib, and let out a blood-curdling shriek, she comes running. sucker!
about a week ago, i started waking up earlier and earlier from my first long stretch, and then more and more frequently throughout the rest of the night. i still have my 7:30pm bedtime, but instead of sleeping until 1:30am, i started waking up at 12:30am, then 11:30pm. then the other day when the blood curdling started at 10:30pm, mommy decided it was time to make some changes. cuz apparently when i don’t sleep well, mommy doesn’t sleep well either. imagine that.
THEORY A: hungry mungry
- problem: mommy thought that i might not be getting enough to eat during the day, causing me to be hungry mungry at night.
- plan: i am now being stuffed. instead of eating 2 small meals and a small snack each day, i am getting 3 large meals and a big snack!
- verdict: FAIL! this hasn’t changed my sleeping patterns, but i think my pants are starting to feel a bit tight
THEORY B: separation anxiety
- problem: i have definitely entered the separation anxiety phase. (mommy and daddy say it better be just a phase!) so when i wake up at night, i want mommy to hang out with me and feed me. but am i really hungry, or am i just nursing for comfort? that’s the mystery.
- plan: when i wake up at night, mommy is going to wake daddy up and have him check on me. they hope that since i won’t expect daddy to feed me, i’ll just go back to sleep. after a few night of this, i’ll learn that mommy is not going to nurse me every 1-2 hours, so i’ll stop waking up so frequently. that’s the theory, anyway.
- verdict: TBD. daddy is very excited about his role in this plan
THEORY C: daddy the sleep master
- problem: mommy is such a sucker for my screaming that her plans are destined to fail. she’ll undoubtedly give in and come feed me because she can’t stand to hear me cry.
- plan: i think mommy just needs to go away for a couple of days and let daddy work his sleep master magic on me again.
- verdict: TBD. mommy is going on another business trip next week. i’ll let you know how it goes!
June 11th, 2010 at 10:21 pm
wow, you’re really brave (or dumb) testing your parents like this. if i did that to my daddy, he’d put me in the shed where he couldn’t hear me cry.
but i’m pretty sure my mommy’s a sucker just like your mommy. okay, i KNOW she’s a sucker, but i let her think that she’s not.
June 12th, 2010 at 2:11 pm
One day, you will realize that 10 hours of uninterrupted sleep is golden!!!!! maybe you need your turtle friend to shine the lights on the ceiling, to help soothe you back to sleep! Or a later bedtime?
June 12th, 2010 at 9:01 pm
@logan: your mommy isn’t a sucker. she doesn’t wake up every 2-3 hours at night to feed you like mine does. i’ve got her wrapped around my little finger. and who’s testing? i’m not testing anyone. i just don’t like to be in the dark by myself. who can blame me, right?
@auntie barb: i don’t wanna sleep 10 hours — i wanna play all the time! i wish i could stay up all night long but i get really tired around 7:30pm these days. must be old age. i used to be able to stay up really late and go out everywhere with mommy and daddy, but those days are long gone.
mommy doesn’t even dare to dream of sleeping 10 hours. she would be so happy just to have 4!