Baby Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and love Waking Up
Okay so I haven't learned that last part.
Chalupa is still waking up two and three times. But it's better. He no longer wakes up every hour to every two hours. The "trick," if you can call it that, has been putting him to sleep on his stomach.
He goes down for bed after G, so we do bath, read books together, say goodnight to G, and then feed Chalupa and he's usually in his bed about 7:30 / 8:00. You can see the part of this the experts would hate. But it makes no sense to me not to feed a baby right before bed. Someday this will change (probably when I wean). But if he's like G, he'll get a bottle before bed up until he gives it up on his own. G gave up milk before bed sometime this past summer (just over 2).
Anyway.
So last weekend I tried really, really hard to get Chalupa on a strict, regimented schedule. With Lewis here it was possible. But I soon realized that during the week it just wasn't going to be possible. I can't hide in Chalupa's room for thirty minutes getting him rocked and settled in for a nap. It's irresponsible and down right dangerous to leave a two year old mostly unattended during that time.
So I've given up that approach. Chalupa has had to "deal" with eating downstairs in the living room with G in the room making noise. He's doing okay. Still doesn't eat as long during these sessions but he's getting the hang of it. Then he naps in his swing for probably 30-45 minutes. I don't have a better system at the moment. But the swing will do all the work and put him to sleep for me, and that's nice.
These cat naps are ridiculous. On a good day he'll take 3. On a strange day (or early wake up day) he'll take 4. If he could consolidate even two of these into one, I might get a nap again some day. But as it stands, I'm just grateful he's resting.
His bedtime situation, as I said is not perfect, but it's pretty normal I'd think for a 5 month old. He's going down about 8, on a "bad" night waking up about 10/11, and then again at 3/4. On a "good" night, he wakes up about 2/3 and then is up about 7. He wants to be asleep again at 9/10 and then again at about 2. If this 2PM nap would last longer than 30 minutes it would be awesome. But it's typically his shortest nap. He naps again in the ergo while I'm making dinner at about 530. He sleeps till 6ish, and then bed at 8.
The ergo nap means I'm eating standing up with 20lbs strapped to me while doing the baby bounce. It's completely doable, but it's no wonder I'm exhausted all the time.
This situation is vastly perferable to what was going on the two weeks prior. I don't love that he's sleeping on his tummy but I love that he's sleeping. I'm pretty sure he rolled over back to front last night because he woke up about 5 I think (he always rolls over to his back when he wakes up)? And I ignored him and when he made noise again about 7 he was on his tummy again. So the sleep on the tummy question is, as I had hoped, just about mute.
The situation is fluid and will probably change again tonight. But whatever has been sending his nervous system haywire and preventing him from sleeping has seemed to calmed. His teeth still hurt and he's always biting on his fingers. Based on G I'd expect teeth this month. But who knows. I hate saying "I expect" anything with babies. It always just ends up with me saying something like "well I was sooo wrong."
Chalupa is still waking up two and three times. But it's better. He no longer wakes up every hour to every two hours. The "trick," if you can call it that, has been putting him to sleep on his stomach.
He goes down for bed after G, so we do bath, read books together, say goodnight to G, and then feed Chalupa and he's usually in his bed about 7:30 / 8:00. You can see the part of this the experts would hate. But it makes no sense to me not to feed a baby right before bed. Someday this will change (probably when I wean). But if he's like G, he'll get a bottle before bed up until he gives it up on his own. G gave up milk before bed sometime this past summer (just over 2).
Anyway.
So last weekend I tried really, really hard to get Chalupa on a strict, regimented schedule. With Lewis here it was possible. But I soon realized that during the week it just wasn't going to be possible. I can't hide in Chalupa's room for thirty minutes getting him rocked and settled in for a nap. It's irresponsible and down right dangerous to leave a two year old mostly unattended during that time.
So I've given up that approach. Chalupa has had to "deal" with eating downstairs in the living room with G in the room making noise. He's doing okay. Still doesn't eat as long during these sessions but he's getting the hang of it. Then he naps in his swing for probably 30-45 minutes. I don't have a better system at the moment. But the swing will do all the work and put him to sleep for me, and that's nice.
These cat naps are ridiculous. On a good day he'll take 3. On a strange day (or early wake up day) he'll take 4. If he could consolidate even two of these into one, I might get a nap again some day. But as it stands, I'm just grateful he's resting.
His bedtime situation, as I said is not perfect, but it's pretty normal I'd think for a 5 month old. He's going down about 8, on a "bad" night waking up about 10/11, and then again at 3/4. On a "good" night, he wakes up about 2/3 and then is up about 7. He wants to be asleep again at 9/10 and then again at about 2. If this 2PM nap would last longer than 30 minutes it would be awesome. But it's typically his shortest nap. He naps again in the ergo while I'm making dinner at about 530. He sleeps till 6ish, and then bed at 8.
The ergo nap means I'm eating standing up with 20lbs strapped to me while doing the baby bounce. It's completely doable, but it's no wonder I'm exhausted all the time.
This situation is vastly perferable to what was going on the two weeks prior. I don't love that he's sleeping on his tummy but I love that he's sleeping. I'm pretty sure he rolled over back to front last night because he woke up about 5 I think (he always rolls over to his back when he wakes up)? And I ignored him and when he made noise again about 7 he was on his tummy again. So the sleep on the tummy question is, as I had hoped, just about mute.
The situation is fluid and will probably change again tonight. But whatever has been sending his nervous system haywire and preventing him from sleeping has seemed to calmed. His teeth still hurt and he's always biting on his fingers. Based on G I'd expect teeth this month. But who knows. I hate saying "I expect" anything with babies. It always just ends up with me saying something like "well I was sooo wrong."
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