I'm sorry I am a one-subject person at the moment, but Scotty's sleep is well, my life. When he sleeps, I can function. When he doesn't sleep, I don't function.
After the super-early wake-up call a few mornings in a row, I decided yesterday was the day I was going to keep him up longer in the afternoon and up longer in the evening, with the hopes of re-regulating his little clock in his brain.
Our experiment had mixed results.
So (since I know the details of his sleep are terribly fascinating to most people) from Sunday night, he went to sleep at 11pm. He was up at 2am, 4am, 6:30am, 7:30am, and finally 8:30am. There is no way he was hungry for each of those feedings, but he got into a little 'snack and slumber' pattern - 2oz here, 1.5oz there. Which means I'm awake and feeding him, making me 1.) crazy, 2.)more sleep-deprived, if that is even possible, and 3.) extremely irritable.
He stayed up from 8:45am on. I rocked him, swaddled him, gave him the binkie...nothing. I finally threw in the towel at 12:00pm. I don't know why this kid was so alert (and had been now, for almost 10 hours) but my god, it was making me crazy. He wasn't fussing or crying -- he was just alert. My concern is even more compounded by the fact that Oprah did a show last week (I didn't see it but Courtney told me about it) about a little girl who was diagnosed with schizophrenia at the age of 7. The parents said that they knew something was off right away because as a newborn, the little girl never slept.
I know, I know, Scotty sleeps just fine. But one day of not sleeping is enough to make my already-crazy post-partum mind run in circles, so now add 'possible childhood schizophrenia' to the differential.
Anyways, back to my story. He finally falls asleep at noon (naturally - I am at my point of exhaustion and he finally closes his little eyes) and stays asleep until 2pm. I was ready for this one - by the time he woke up, I had the car packed, milk ready, and we were off to an outdoor mall for some stimulation. I was hoping he'd stay awake for several hours to allow some quieter time in the evening.
Be careful what you wish for. He stayed awake through the shopping trip...and then when we got home. Finally at 5:30, he fell asleep. And woke up again at 6:00pm. I tried to put him down, but by this point, I had been up since 4am (due to pumping), had not had a nap, and all of this was compounded by the past 8 weeks of no sleep. So at 7pm, when the little guy was still bright-eyed, I handed him off to Brian as Brian walked in the front door. Put down the brief case, take the baby. And I was off to bed.
Scotty then proceeded to stay up until 11pm. No sleeping, no nap...just alert. I don't know how Brian did it, but he finally got him down and quiet. I woke up at midnight to pump (although I will say, despite being completely exhausted, it was very tough to fall asleep. My mind was just racing.) Scotty thankfully slept until 3am, and then got up at 7am.
He stayed awake until about 9am, and currently, he's enjoying a nice morning nap. Who knows what the rest of the day will bring...we seem to be on an every-other-day routine here. (one day goes well, the next is crash and burn.)
Let's hope he does well today since it's Brian's birthday. Happy birthday, Brian!
After the super-early wake-up call a few mornings in a row, I decided yesterday was the day I was going to keep him up longer in the afternoon and up longer in the evening, with the hopes of re-regulating his little clock in his brain.
Our experiment had mixed results.
So (since I know the details of his sleep are terribly fascinating to most people) from Sunday night, he went to sleep at 11pm. He was up at 2am, 4am, 6:30am, 7:30am, and finally 8:30am. There is no way he was hungry for each of those feedings, but he got into a little 'snack and slumber' pattern - 2oz here, 1.5oz there. Which means I'm awake and feeding him, making me 1.) crazy, 2.)more sleep-deprived, if that is even possible, and 3.) extremely irritable.
He stayed up from 8:45am on. I rocked him, swaddled him, gave him the binkie...nothing. I finally threw in the towel at 12:00pm. I don't know why this kid was so alert (and had been now, for almost 10 hours) but my god, it was making me crazy. He wasn't fussing or crying -- he was just alert. My concern is even more compounded by the fact that Oprah did a show last week (I didn't see it but Courtney told me about it) about a little girl who was diagnosed with schizophrenia at the age of 7. The parents said that they knew something was off right away because as a newborn, the little girl never slept.
I know, I know, Scotty sleeps just fine. But one day of not sleeping is enough to make my already-crazy post-partum mind run in circles, so now add 'possible childhood schizophrenia' to the differential.
Anyways, back to my story. He finally falls asleep at noon (naturally - I am at my point of exhaustion and he finally closes his little eyes) and stays asleep until 2pm. I was ready for this one - by the time he woke up, I had the car packed, milk ready, and we were off to an outdoor mall for some stimulation. I was hoping he'd stay awake for several hours to allow some quieter time in the evening.
Be careful what you wish for. He stayed awake through the shopping trip...and then when we got home. Finally at 5:30, he fell asleep. And woke up again at 6:00pm. I tried to put him down, but by this point, I had been up since 4am (due to pumping), had not had a nap, and all of this was compounded by the past 8 weeks of no sleep. So at 7pm, when the little guy was still bright-eyed, I handed him off to Brian as Brian walked in the front door. Put down the brief case, take the baby. And I was off to bed.
Scotty then proceeded to stay up until 11pm. No sleeping, no nap...just alert. I don't know how Brian did it, but he finally got him down and quiet. I woke up at midnight to pump (although I will say, despite being completely exhausted, it was very tough to fall asleep. My mind was just racing.) Scotty thankfully slept until 3am, and then got up at 7am.
He stayed awake until about 9am, and currently, he's enjoying a nice morning nap. Who knows what the rest of the day will bring...we seem to be on an every-other-day routine here. (one day goes well, the next is crash and burn.)
Let's hope he does well today since it's Brian's birthday. Happy birthday, Brian!
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