Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Training-for sleep

I come from a long line of champion sleepers. My mom and dad both at one time could outsleep anyone- and I learned to do the same. I can usually sleep through a freight train plowing through my living room, and at one point in my life I was known to crawl up on top of the huge speakers at my dad's band practice and snooze on top of them until someone put me to bed. So of course, since Elliott's arrival my sleep habits have dramatically changed.

That isn't to say that he doesn't sleep well. He likes to snooze, and will sometimes pass out in the middle of playing. However, one of the major drawbacks of exclusively breastfeeding a baby how often they need to eat. It's great for my figure, but has done NOTHING for the dark circles under my eyes.

After speaking with a friend, I have been encouraged to space out feedings so that he isn't used to eating every two hours. I did a little experiment today, and I don't feel great about the results. The thing is, Elliott doesn't consistently eat every two hours. Sometimes it's two hours, sometimes four. But he lets me know he wants to eat, and I usually let him eat. Today, making him wait seemed a little strange, because all it did was work him into a frenzy. By the time I fed him he was almost too worked up to focus. I realize these routines take time, but I'm not sure either of us are to the point where I want to call in "baby sleep experts" to fix us. I mean, sure, it would be fantastic if I got a REM cycle in. But it seems wrong to make a generally happy baby scream for his food. It almost hurts. Besides, if I can go three months with spotty sleep, surely I can go four.

2 comments:

Blenda Koder said...

LOL Welcome to mommyhood...It really doesn't matter if you are breaastfeeding or bottle feeding babies gethungry when they get hungry! The bad news is you just aren't gonna get much sleep. The worse news is is last forever, if they aren't keeping you awake as an infant they will keep you awake as a toddler, not wanting to go to bed, as a teenager staying out late or worse DRIVING. Then they become adults and you would think that you don't have to loose sleep worrying anymore...but nope you still do. Sorry to be the one to have to break this to you. Hang in there. You will get to have a few nights rest before you grow old! Love you Aunt B

Tiffany said...

That is funny because I fell asleep on a speaker at a wedding when I was little! We are so alike that way! If you want my thoughts, let him eat when he is hungry. As long as it isnt all of the time it is more important to keep a happy baby in my opinion. Bradley isnt sleeping through the night all of the time yet but I think of it this way, I get a lot of quality time with him and that is not replaceable. Let me know if you do figure out how to get him to sleep all night though! I wouldnt complain about that if it did happen!