Last Saturday we discovered Maren had a double ear infection. While I was sad that she was sick, I was hopeful this was the reason for her sleeping so poorly lately. The following night, Warner got sick and vomited from midnight until 5am. This was the first time he had gotten a stomach bug and he was so confused and pitiful. Thankfully it only lasted about 24 hours, but that was one long night, changing sheets multiple times, cleaning carpet at 2am after unsuccessfully trying to get Warner to the bathroom, etc. Then on Tuesday, Kevin and I got a similar bug. Being sick and caring for two children is a difficult thing to do. We all finally felt better Wednesday but Maren is still not sleeping. For example, last night looked like this:
7:30pm: Nurse Maren and put her to bed. Maren refuses to go to sleep on her own.
8:00pm: Leave Maren's room (very angry, I'm ashamed to say) and let her cry herself to sleep.
9:00pm: Maren appears to have cried herself to sleep.
9:30pm: Another round of crying.
10:00pm: Maren is back to sleep.
12:00am: Maren is up. I decide to nurse her, foolishly thinking she might get full and sleep until 6am now. She eats, but refuses to go back to sleep on her own.
12:30am: I bring Maren downstairs to sleep with me on the couch, after she wakes Warner with her screaming.
12:35am: I strongly consider leaving our house. By myself. And never coming back. I resist this urge.
12:40am: Kevin takes Maren upstairs to try to get her to sleep while I lay on the couch, covering my ears.
12:50: I take over again, and rock Maren to sleep.
1:30am: Maren is in her crib, asleep. I go to our bed, exhausted.
2:50am: Warner walks into our room. I take him back to his bed, and he cries for 10 minutes.
4:30am: Maren wakes up. I nurse her again, and put her back in her crib. She screams. I finally try swaddling her, which seems to work, and she falls asleep.
6:00am: Maren is awake. I somehow get her to go back to sleep.
6:30am: Kevin's alarm goes off. Warner wakes up, and our day has begun.
I have read and re-read "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child", but this has produced neither healthy sleep habits nor a happy child with Maren. I have endlessly googled tips to get her to sleep. I have tried changing her bedtime, changing her feeding schedule, swaddling her, lying her on her belly, letting her cry it out, Tylenol, Ora-gel, gas drops, etc., etc., etc. I'm at my wit's end. If this child doesn't sleep soon, I am confident Kevin and I will go crazy. Please pray for our family!
2 comments:
Laura! You need to FB Shelly Bowman Waltz. She can help you!!!! I'm telling you, my sister can get any baby on a sleep schedule. :)
So sorry for your trouble Laura! It seems they all go through a phase of this. She may have entered the phase of just wanting to know you're there and wants to be with you. Andrew went through it and we let him cry through it so he didn't get used to getting us in the middle of the night. You could always test it by letting Kevin go in, so she isn't getting you. Hope it gets better!
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