Our typical nighttime routine is feeding Nate at 9 and attempting to get him to sleep right afterwards. This usually means Thad swaddles him and bounces him for over an hour while Nate stares adorably at him, not at all tired. If Nate does actually doze off, Thad will gently lay him in his cradle and he promptly wakes up within 30 seconds, which means Thad has to start all over with the bouncing. Often, in a fit of mild despiration, we'll put Nate in between us in bed and stick a finger in his mouth to calm him so Thad can at least lie down. Nate actually falls asleep and all will be well for an hour or two, when our sweet boy starts grunting like an 80 year old man (or more accurately, like I did when I was nine months pregnant). We're pretty sure this is caused by gas, and it usually goes on for at least an hour, when he'll finally wake himself up, Meanwhile, I'm lying awake because I find it difficult to sleep when someone is repeatedly grunting in your ear. Then I'll feed Nate around 2, spend time trying to get him to go to sleep. For whatever reason, my attempts are far more fruitless than Thad's and Nate usually ends up more wound up than he was to begin with, at which point Thad either wakes himself up or I wake him because I am baffled as to how to calm this teeny little guy. Anyway, after more bouncing and finger sucking, Nate finally falls to sleep, and we repeat the hour or two of rest followed by grunting until we're all awake, bright eyed and bushy tailed.
Apparently, Nate's still to young to learn anything from "crying it out" but we can play with his eating scheudle; so, last night we decided to mix up our "sleep" routine to see if Thad and I could actually get some rest. The results were bizzare. I went to bed at 9 while Thad stayed up and played with Nate until 11, when they woke me for a feeding. Thad hopped in bed and Nate ate for a few minutes and then fell asleep. I don't think I've ever seen the kid so tired! I kept trying to wake him to eat for about a half hour so he wasn't starving, but didn't have much luck. Then I put him in his cradle and voila! Sleep! He did wake at 3am to eat, which wasn't a big shock since he hadn't eaten much earlier, but he again (with a little prodding from Dad) slept in his cradle. If I hadn't been so tired I might have done a little jig. Anyway, we are happy to have had one promising night, and are going to try to figure out how to keep this cradle stuff going!
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Oh Neva and Thad! You are not alone! This is EXACTLY what Alex did, but I won't tell you how long it lasted. Around 8 weeks is when I lost it, but fear not, you will sleep eventually, and now Alex is a champ. We actually started putting him down earlier and earlier (like 8) and he eventually figured it out. Good Luck!
Yeah, the grunting.....we sometimes think Samantha (who will be 4 weeks old on Monday) has sleep apnea or something! She wheezes, snorts, grunts, gasps, you name it--but not during her daytime naps. (Of course not!) She teased us about a week ago with 1 or 2 stretches of 5! and 6! hours between feedings in the wee hours, but alas those days are apparently over. For now. I am happy to hear from other parents that it doesn't last forever, all this up and down, jiggling and swaddling, figuring out how the heck to get this tiny person to sleep peacefully (which also means quietly!). We are your comrades in arms....with dark circles under the eyes. :)
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