Since we arrived back in California, the children have been trying to kill me. Kyle is more the innocent bystander, or the complicit-by-nonaction sidekick. It’s Brady who masterminds this operation, with his 2-or-more-times-per-night waking. He goes down peacefully enough around 9pm, but then wakes every night at 1 and 4 at the very least.
This pattern of sleeplessness drove me to the point of Spa Crazy: that state of mind in which, if Mama doesn’t get a massage soon, she will pretend she has an errand to run but will keep driving until she gets to Canada. With the help of Mom Underground, who talked me down off the ledge, and Hiroki, the tiny Japanese massage therapist who dug her elbows into my back, I returned home instead of brandishing my passport at the border.
(Also, thank you to my husband, who stayed home with the baby. Even though that shouldn’t be seen as a favor.)
We took Brady to the pediatrician for his 4 month checkup yesterday, where she told us that a baby of his age and size should be sleeping about 10 uninterrupted hours at night. Ten! Hours! At night! I turned to Stewart and said “I TOLD YOU SO!” In caps.
The doctor gave us permission to sleep train the baby and to start him on rice cereal. She also ushered in the nurse who gave him three giant shots in the thigh, to which he did not exactly react well. Also, Uncle Fireman Kevin is visiting and it doesn’t seem right to treat him to several nights of Screaming Baby on his vacation. He’s already spending his days as my manny. So we’ll save the sleep training for next week, and the rice cereal will be done soon enough. No rush.
The doctor also told us about yet another baby training book: “The Sleep Easy Solution,” which was written by her very own colleagues. I just ordered it yesterday. I will tell you why it does not work after I try and fail with their methods.
So wish me luck. And hope that the earthquakes stop happening in the middle of the night when everyone is sleeping, adding another wakeup to my endless night.
The book title links to the earthquake site, which is really scary!
Thanks, mom, I fixed it!
Earthquakes? What earthquakes?
We were lucky with LA Toddler. She started sleeping thru the night at about 4 months. But… for some reason, call me a worrier, but I doubt we’ll get as lucky with number two.
I may have to borrow that book 🙂
Earthquakes – EEK! I’d not heard about that. “The problem with the books,” I have often said to parents, “Is that the babies don’t read them to know what they are supposed to be doing.” My baby didn’t sleep through the night until… when??? Oh yea. Never. At 3 1/2 she still wakes up during the night and crawls into bed with us. She woke up to breastfeed until … ?? maybe a year?? Until mama cut her off from the boobies during the night because I thought if my boobies were sucked on at 3am one more time, I’d go totally insane!
When our pediatrician told us to start rice cereal at 4 months, we fired her.
good luck!
I hope the sleep training works!
Heather says thank you for all the fun stickers! And for thinking of her! They arrived in the mail today. Kiddos do love stickers… now, as for her mama… as she is pealing all those stickers off every surface in the house? She may curse your name once or twice 😉 (just kidding… stickers don’t really bother me, they are cheap, easy fun!)
By the way, I do love the hometown stories series—just for the record. My neighbor has the Sleep Easy book, that one and the Happiest Baby on the Block book and she swears by both of them. I hope they work out for you!
Hope things settle down for you. Erin slept through at 3 months, so I feel like I don’t have any advice to give – I didn’t do anything to make her sleep, she just did it.
And what’s the big deal with rice cereal? Do you really want to add baby constipation to your list of things that are driving you crazy? I use mixed-grain cereal or oatmeal and skip the rice.
“Also, thank you to my husband, who stayed home with the baby. Even though that shouldn’t be seen as a favor” Haha, I’m so right there with you on that one!
Neither of my kids slept 10 hours straight until they were almost a year old. I tell you that not to discourage you but to make you feel better. Misery loves company and all. Although, I’m sure right now you would rather just have some sleep.