Tuesday, November 16, 2010

to sleep...or NOT to sleep!

About a month ago Ethan moved into his crib to sleep. He had been doing very well there and had been consistently going 5-6 hours before waking up. He even did 7 hours one night! I was thrilled and thought that we were on our way to finally sleeping through the night. Unfortunately, he seems to have gone backwards in the past few days! Previously, he would sleep soundly and I wouldn't hear a peep from him until he was ready to get up to eat. However, he has now started waking up between feedings. He will cry and I will go in and he seems to be partly awake. I will hold him a bit and put him back down but he will be up again in a very short time. He also is only going about 3 hours before wanting to eat, which is reverting back to when he was much smaller!

During the day he loves his pacifier and usually needs it to settle down and fall asleep. However, he has never needed it at night. He has always fallen asleep easily after nursing and stayed asleep until he was ready to eat. I am now wondering if he is needing it even in the night since he keeps waking up. However, I am very hesitant to start using it at night because I don't want to have to get up and put it back in when it falls out and he wakes up.

He is 11 1/2 weeks old and I was hoping that we were consistently moving in the other direction so this is making for some exhausting and frustrating nights! I must also say that I am very thankful for such a wonderful husband! While he hears nothing in the night and sleeps through everything, he has been wonderful at getting up with Ethan in the morning so that I can sleep a bit longer. I am once again thankful for his flexible work schedule and the close proximity of his work.

I am confused because he was previously doing so good. Does anyone have any advice/thoughts on this? Any similar experiences with your children? Are there things I can do to help him sleep more soundly and longer? Is this just a stage that we will hopefully soon pass through?
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3 comments:

  1. DawnLNovember 16, 2010 at 8:35 AM

    Part of it might be that he is trying to build up your milks supply. All three of my kids went through this between 10 - 12 weeks. One of the not so nice parts of breast feeding. It took until baby #3 for me to figure out that if I fed her more during the day (even to the point of waking her up every 3 hours) I would have more milk and it held her over the night time better. Just a thought. Hope you find an answer that works for you.

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  2. KariSterkNovember 16, 2010 at 10:06 AM

    Growth spurt? Hailey did the same thing at this age. :)

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  3. Adam and BeccaNovember 17, 2010 at 10:03 AM

    Like the others said, he may just be going through a growth spurt and want more to eat. Don't be too afraid of the pacifier at night though. It is annoying to have to go in and put it back in when it falls out, but the sucking might just be enough to soothe him back to sleep. We'd literally have to just go in, put a pacifier in their mouths, and then go back to bed. And our boys were both really easy to break from the pacifier when they got older. Hope you figure out something that works for you!

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