Adie has been struggling in the sleep department lately which, of course, translates into Brett and me not sleeping well either. She has been having separation anxiety lately, so if she wakes up and realizes we aren't there she'll start crying. On top of that, she is teething and has had a cold. This is a recipe for poor sleep for a baby as you may well guess.
There are a few extra details that make this a particularly sticky situation. The first is that we live in an apartment (I can't tell you the excitement I have to own a home). In the mean time, the "cry it out" philosophy that so many tout in order to prevent your child from making you wake up every night and rock them back to sleep really isn't so easy to execute when your child is sharing a wall with two children on the other side of the wall and another toddler above her. I really can't justify allowing her to cry for an hour at 4 am in those conditions. Hence, I wake up and do whatever it takes to get her quiet as quickly as possible.
Second, I have some crazy insomnia problem lately. If Adie wakes me up in the middle of the night and I am up for more than 2 minutes, it's not likely I'll be able to shut my brain off for another 1 - 4 hours. It used to be that if I got a good workout in that day or didn't get much sleep the night before I was able to fall back asleep easily. Lately, it doesn't matter if I'd been up for last 24 hours, if I am awoken in the middle of the night, I can plan on not falling back to sleep. This causes a problem when I need to take advantage of every sleeping hour I can get. I know this is my just desserts because my mother suffers from the same problem and I definitely caused her to wake up many, many, many times throughout the years. My poor mother!
Third, Ads is a little picky about who holds her when she's throwing a fit in the middle of the night. Despite Brett's valiant efforts to relieve me, he's basically useless. This is part of the whole separation anxiety thing. Sometimes, only mom will do. Not only that, but even when Brett does manage to at least calm her down, I am usually wide awake by then, so I just go and get her to finish up getting her back to sleep because Brett might as well get some sleep since he can fall right back asleep and I'll be up regardless.
The other issue here is that I am not a nice person when I get sleep deprivation. This has always been the case with me, but it seems to have gotten worse and it seems I need more sleep now than I did 5 years ago too. I get so cranky if I have more than a couple of nights without decent sleep. This makes me a less than stellar mother, wife, neighbor, etc.
Anyway, I don't mean to be such a complainer. Here I was the other day complaining about diets, etc., and now you read my rant about sleep. I know I will survive. I really do have a good life, something my visiting teachers were talking about tonight, which was the perfect message for me. And, even though it's hard to be so tired, it can be so precious holding your child in your arms as she falls asleep. I love watching Adie sleep, and frankly I love sleeping too. I am hoping and praying this phase passes quickly so I can re-enter the land of the functional again.
6 comments:
So frustrating!! You can bring Adie by, and I will watch her why you take a nap. :) I owe you a gazillion anyway. Plus, I can sympathize. Rachel was up at least 5 times between 5-7am crying and saying she was "all done sleeping". grrrr... sorry to our neighbors who heard us yelling at our child in the wee hours of the morning.
Sabrina! I can't even imagine you being mean, even with no sleep. Oh and I love your line about Brett being useless--there's one that could really be taken out of context! Lastly, and sadly, you are so right that I'm always blogging about desserts!! What is it with me? Maybe now that I'm only eating sweets twice a week it's all I can think about?
I'm happy to help too. Just give a call.
Oh, Sabrina, I can totally sympathize with you! I've had sleep problems ever since Ada was born, and I feel like I've turned into my mother too. My doctor told me I need to exercise every day, take time to hang out with the girls, get a massage, and just take time for myself. Well, at least I go walking every morning and I am on medication for anxiety. I'm sleeping better than I was.
As far as waking in the night, that's a tough one. Ada rarely wakes in the night, but when she does we still get up with her. How does Adie do when you put her down? Do you still have to rock her or does she fall asleep on her own? We struggled getting Ada to fall asleep on her own for a long time. We were worried about the neighbors hearing her cry too. But I let her cry when I'd put her down for naps and down to bed, and it didn't take too long for it to happen. Good luck with that. It's no fun, and it's frustrating to be so tired all the time!
Oh yeah, and Ada only wants me to help her with everything too. So not fair! Also, I try not to nap during the day, and I think I sleep better on the nights I don't.
Not only the exitement for a home, but the exitement for another apartment that has better insulation! The apartment we live in now is like a home. We don't hear a PEEP from any of our neighbors. I'm glad we are not there when I have this baby because I would be paranoid too about letting her cry, especially since your little girl would be on the other wall! Our girls would be waking each other up and you and I would be sleepy together the next day, haha. I do miss Stadium Gardens though!! I hope you can get some sleep!
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