4 + 4 = 8
About four weeks ago, Isaac started soaking through his (disposable) diaper in the middle of the night. Naturally this woke him up and he would scream until mom would change him and his sheets; afterward he would sleep until normal waking-time like nothing happened. Nevertheless, I was feening for those nights without interruption from Mr. Jr. Sleep Disorder, which had come to me at long last after 16 months of waiting. Our solution to this was quite simple. Each night before bed, Isaac slurps down an 8-oz bottle of milk while cuddling with Dada and watching the Wiggles. Cut the fluid in half, cut the pee in half, right? So about 3 weeks ago we cut him down to a full 4-oz bottle instead, and he never seemed to notice the difference.
For the first few nights, he cooperated perfectly and slept through the night. But it was not too many nights before the horrible wailing began, first at 2 or 3, and now at 1 or even midnight AND at 2 or 3. When I say horrible wailing, I mean all-out, knock-down, drag-out self-mutilating kind of nighttime tantrums, replete with thrashing. My first thoughts were that he must be teething again, or maybe even having growing pains. He does seem to be getting taller. Several nights I gave him some Tylenol, but in a first for him, he would try to push it away, syrupy cherry goodness and all. What seemed to work best was holding him in the rocking chair and rocking for about 20 minutes, but even that wasn't guaranteed to last the whole night through. Last week, with nothing really working for us, I tried giving him another 4-oz bottle of milk or juice when he would wake. After slurping down the bottle and then screaming for more when it was done, I could usually rock him back to sleep and it would stick, but I didn't really think much of it.
Anyway, this new, non-sleeping Isaac is zapping my sanity. Not only do I not get to sleep during the night, but then he is cranky all day long and takes bad naps because of it. And I am realizing more and more that, for me and U.B., 5 discontinuous hours of sleep during the night + 1 or 1.5 hours during the day is NOT cutting it. When Isaac got up at 6 this morning for good, after being up for over 1.5 hours last night, I cried. Me needee sleep too, dern it.
Isaac and I were snuggling watching the Wiggles tonight and they were doing some bit to demonstrate how sharp their minds were after they ate healthy food or something. "1 and 1 is 2!" one says. "2 and 2 is 4!" says another. "4 and 4 is 8!" says a third. Suddenly a light peered through the sleep-deprivation fog: 4-oz of milk is not enough as a bedtime snack. He falls asleep better after I give him another 4-oz in the night because he is starving to death. What a genius mommy he has. I think we will start instituting a bedtime snack -- you know, milk and cookies or the like, to make him even more of a little boy. Then he will sleep through the night.
DID YOU HEAR THAT, BOY???? THEN YOU WILL SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT!
For the first few nights, he cooperated perfectly and slept through the night. But it was not too many nights before the horrible wailing began, first at 2 or 3, and now at 1 or even midnight AND at 2 or 3. When I say horrible wailing, I mean all-out, knock-down, drag-out self-mutilating kind of nighttime tantrums, replete with thrashing. My first thoughts were that he must be teething again, or maybe even having growing pains. He does seem to be getting taller. Several nights I gave him some Tylenol, but in a first for him, he would try to push it away, syrupy cherry goodness and all. What seemed to work best was holding him in the rocking chair and rocking for about 20 minutes, but even that wasn't guaranteed to last the whole night through. Last week, with nothing really working for us, I tried giving him another 4-oz bottle of milk or juice when he would wake. After slurping down the bottle and then screaming for more when it was done, I could usually rock him back to sleep and it would stick, but I didn't really think much of it.
Anyway, this new, non-sleeping Isaac is zapping my sanity. Not only do I not get to sleep during the night, but then he is cranky all day long and takes bad naps because of it. And I am realizing more and more that, for me and U.B., 5 discontinuous hours of sleep during the night + 1 or 1.5 hours during the day is NOT cutting it. When Isaac got up at 6 this morning for good, after being up for over 1.5 hours last night, I cried. Me needee sleep too, dern it.
Isaac and I were snuggling watching the Wiggles tonight and they were doing some bit to demonstrate how sharp their minds were after they ate healthy food or something. "1 and 1 is 2!" one says. "2 and 2 is 4!" says another. "4 and 4 is 8!" says a third. Suddenly a light peered through the sleep-deprivation fog: 4-oz of milk is not enough as a bedtime snack. He falls asleep better after I give him another 4-oz in the night because he is starving to death. What a genius mommy he has. I think we will start instituting a bedtime snack -- you know, milk and cookies or the like, to make him even more of a little boy. Then he will sleep through the night.
DID YOU HEAR THAT, BOY???? THEN YOU WILL SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT!
posted by Claire at 5:26 PM
3 Comments:
I have this same problem with Babybeaux. Exactly. We were putting him down with a bottle forever. I know, this is very very bad. Very bad. Anyway, he would wake up drenched. We cut out the bottle and now he wakes up every.night. Every.night.
AGH!
Claire
I may have some advice for the night time hunger since Clayton did the same thing to me. We no longer have bottles (that was fun!!! Two days of screaming and throwing sippy cups.) we have a piece of frozen french toast (warmed with butter and lots of syrup) for a bedtime snack. He really likes it and it keeps his belly full until 8:30am. He usually eats it while watching Wiggles (about 8 pm). Sometimes he will also have ice cream and bananas and that usually will do the trick as well. Good luck, I hope this helps!!!
Yes, we should probably cut out the bottle entirely and use big-boy cups. We are bad! But I think we know we can't cut out the milk entirely -- old boy doesn't get too much during the day, except in the form of cheese.
Bless you, Mindy, for such a fantastic suggestion! I am going to the grocery store tomorrow anyway and will buy me some french toast sticks!!!
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