. . . or is it "no rest for the wicked?" I can never keep it straight. No matter - that's me: no rest. I have not had a decent night's sleep all week. Remember how Finn sleeps throught the night? Make that slept throught the night. No more, apparently. Lately I've been up with him 2, 3, 4 times a night, and last night it seemed like it was constant up and down with him, until finally I brought him into bed with us around 3 a.m. where he still fussed and I ended up dozing sitting up against the headboard with him propped on my shoulder. I'm not sure what the story is. He's congested, but he's been congested for weeks - without it ever turning into a full-blown cold. I use saline drops in his nose and slather his chest with Baby Vicks before bed, and that was working up until several days ago. Now he just doesn't want to sleep, and I am running on empty.
In other news, he seems to be making some developmental . . . I don't want to say leaps, but . . . hops? In addition to sitting (which he's quickly getting better at - last night he sat un-propped for several seconds, just leaning forward a bit for balance), he has started blowing raspberries (which I count as developmental because it seems purposeful on his part), he has figured out how to turn in his Jumperoo and how to make it bounce (he doesn't exactly jump, but he kicks his legs in such a way that it sets the thing to bouncing, which he quite enjoys), and for the first time a couple nights ago he was staring at his own reflection in the mirror very intently for several minutes (which seems cognitive to me . . . am I right?). Anyhoo, I don't know if this is all normal stuff in the timeline for babes with Ds, but whatever, it seems like he's making strides lately, which pleases me.
I am reminded, though, of T. Berry Brazelton's book, Touchpoints, which I read eons ago when Kevin was a baby, and how it is normal for babies (any babies?) to have setbacks in areas where they were excelling when they achieve or are about to achieve a new developmental milestone. So maybe all this new stuff he's mastering explains why he's not sleeping so well lately.
Adieu
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After more than two years and 555 posts (556 counting this one!), I'm
saying goodbye to Adventures in Motherhood. I'm ready for a change, and
I've started ...
13 years ago
11 comments:
I've frequently heard that a baby trying to master new skills will have interrupted sleep patterns... because they want to be practicing those new skills!
Hang in there... it WILL get better!!
Hope you get some rest soon and Mr. Finn feels better too! Wish I could just snap my fingers and that nasty cold went away...no sleep equals no fun. Hang in there!!
~Elyse~
Oh,don't scare me:) Ruby has been sleeping all night for weeks.She goes to sleep at midnight and sleeps until 8am.Hopefully Finn will get back into his routine quickly!Ruby has also had a stopped up nose for weeks.She got sick at Thanksgiving and then again at Christmas.Since then she has just kept a stopped up nose.She snorts really loud.Like you, I have been doing the salt water drops.I can hardly sleep at night because I'm worried about her breathing.
This thing was a lifesaver when M was Finn's age: http://nosefrida.com/
Gross, I know, but highly effective.
When Goldie was Finn's age it took longer for her to completely clear up from a cold. Her breathing would be noisy for weeks. But, that seems to have passed.
Also, none of kids were "good" sleepers. But, there is research that shows babies need to nurse through the night for optimal brain development. It has to do with the sensory input they receive while nursing and being held. There is a book by James McKenna PhD that explains more if your intersted. I just armed myself with this information to deal with well meaning people telling me I should let them cio.
Hope you find a way to get a good nights rest soon!
Sleep is an elusive thing with me these days as well. Just wanted to say, "I feel your pain." For the past week, all three kids have woken us up. I look forward to when they're teenagers and want to sleep all the time.:)
Hmm, so there may be a reason for this? Tess was also STTN, for about a month and a half. For the last couple weeks, she has been waking every 3-4 hours at night, and only napping for 20-30 minutes at a time during the day. Ugh.
Sounds like Finn is too busy learning new things to waste time with sleep.
Aaah - Touchpoints. Have it on the bookshelf next to me. FWIW, my experience (with just the one kid) is that sleep suffers when they're learning new tricks. It's like they want to be up and practicing...not sleeping. :-)
Hang in there! Steam is all I can say!
We just recovered from a 2 1/2 month bout of not sleeping through the night. Hang in there! A humidifier did help a little. Oh, and the milestones.... all of those things count!! Way to go Finn! My ECI said once that excelling in one area sometimes means slight set backs or stalls in other areas. I've seen both on Syd's part.
Lisa,
I followed you from the pregnancy.org July bb, and my dd was born a day after Finn. I was reading this entry and thinking to myself "Finn and Sophia are on the *exact* same schedule, apparently!" Sophia just started blowing raspberries, is *trying* to sit up on her own (she, too, can do it for a few seconds before leaning over), and, her sleep last week was MISERABLE. I hope it's some consolation that it seemed to be short lived, she's back to sleeping well again this week. I totally agree with the other comments that I think bad sleep comes with developmental leaps.
Just wanted to share!
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