Okay, so hopefully some progress last night. We put him to bed as normal, but he woke up at 11:30 (!). Brad and I were like, you have got to be kidding. Soon the kid won't be going to bed at all! So, we got out his bumper, put him in his sleep sack and let him cry it out. He only cried for about 1o minutes, then flipped over on to his stomach. He scooted all the way to the corner of the crib and then fell asleep. So then we were worried that he couldn't breathe. We wanted to check, but didn't want to wake him up. Knowing if he could breathe won :) So, I tiptoed in, made sure he was breathing, and of course he was. And then he slept until 6:30 this morning! Woohoo!!! He also cut another tooth today, so I am hoping these are the reasons and his sleep will progress back to where it was. I know it will not be a magical process, but hopefully after a week or so he will figure it out and find his comfort in there. So even though Brad and I didn't sleep great last night because we were glued to the monitor, John did, and that is what matters! Praying this repeats!
Don't let this sweet face fool you! He isn't that innocent :)
Our little guy is going through some major changes right now. I really can't believe he is 5 months old! It makes me sad though, because I will be going back to work in two weeks. I really can't believe that I have had almost 6 months off. I feel so lucky to have had this time off, but it really doesn't make it any easier. I am so anxious about him starting in day care, and how he will handle it. And how I will handle it. I am really worried about finding a good balance to all of it. I think I am a pretty good teacher, not to sound conceited, but I have always put in a lot of extra time to my classroom and students, and while I want to continue that, I know my life has changed since having John and I also want to spend as much time as possible with him. So I am praying that I find that balance to be a good mom, wife, and teacher. I know a lot of people do it, so hopefully we will figure it out.
One reason I am so anxious about day care is that John is going through a "phase" right now. He is still having major sleep regression, and Brad and I just don't know what to do other than ride it out. At about 3 months, John started sleeping through the night like a champ. We always swaddled him and this was the secret to him sleeping in his crib for long periods of time. Well, lately (for the past month now), he was/is acting like he was uncomfortable in his swaddle, and would start kicking out of it at night and wake up. So we put him in a sleep sack. The first night, he did great, slept through the whole night. Brad and I thought, "Great, that must have been it." Wrong. Since then, he started waking up multiple times a night and then refuses to sleep back in his crib. We started taking him on the couch and laying down with him because that is the only way we were getting any sleep. Once we lay him on the couch, he is out usually. So it's not that he is hungry or anything, just uncomfortable. Well, this went on about 2-3 weeks. One night at 3 am, we decided to swaddle him again, and he slept until the morning then. So then the next night we swaddled him, slept through the night. This repeated for about 3 days. We thought we were in the clear again, this time with a new swaddle. Wrong again. He is now back to waking up around 1:45 at night. We don't know if he is just too hot or what. It is almost like he wants to roll over and sleep on his side or stomach, but he can only roll from his back to tummy and so he still hasn't mastered back and forth yet. I am hoping that once he can roll easily back and forth, he can maneuver in his crib and get comfortable. Oh, and we tried to let him cry it out too. Horrible, didn't last. Sooo, if anyone has any suggestions, I would love to hear them. We need sleep! I am so worried he will never sleep through the night again and I don't know how I will survive at work at this rate. He is also going through a nap strike at the moment too. Ugh! I really hope this all ends soon, because he used to be such a good sleeper!!!!
But on a good note, he is so cute and lovable. Even at 3 in the morning, cozied up to him on the couch, I just love looking at him and can't believe he is ours! He has such a strong little personality and is always on the go. He is 100% BOY! He is loving his jumperoo at the moment and is also starting to show more interest in his food. He isn't crazy about the oatmeal, but seems to like sweet potatoes. We tried sweet peas today too :) He has been laughing more and more, which is the best sound ever. Still loves to stand and is putting EVERYTHING in his mouth.
This past weekend my sister and brother in law raced in Windsor, so we went to watch their triathlon. They did awesome, as always! Lisa came in 4th overall in the elite division, and Greg got 5th in the men's elite division. Way to go guys, we are so proud of you! Here are some pictures of John recently. I am going to try to upload a video, but it is showing sideways for some reason and I can't figure out how to flip it. Sorry! Bear with me here :)
So proud of my Aunt Lisa and Uncle Greg!
I made a onesie for John with their team logo on it...not bad!
Grabbing for Libby
1 comment:
Oh, he is soo cute Katie!
Your sleep struggle sounds very familiar! It does seem like they'll never sleep again, but they seem to go through phases a couple of days here and there and work it out on their own sometimes.
Grady was in the sleep sack at this age. We just put him in a l/s onesie and the cotton sleep sack so he wouldn't be too hot. And he wasn't too cold either...nice and toasty warm in the mornings.
I think it was about this time too that we gave him a lovey to manipulate with his hands. We noticed on the monitor that he was rubbing his hands together alot while trying to sleep. It is very light weight and about 10" square. It really helped him fall asleep and after he did, we'd go in his room and move it if it was too close to his face, etc. We also put a bunch of pacifiers in his crib, so he might roll into one and also so we could easily find one when we went in to tend to him. Does John use one?
We also let him cry it out too checking on him in increasing intervals (5 min, 10 min, 20, etc). That's the beauty of the monitor...you can see that he's okay (not hurt in the crib, etc). It's terribly hard to listen to the cries though.
Sometimes growth spurts and teeth do seem to effect their sleep, like you mentioned.
You both WILL sleep again!
Hugs to you all!
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