(no subject)

[rivka]

So, as is often the case, the night after the horrendous meltdown was not as bad. Yes, that damned 5:30 nap screwed up bedtime. Colin was up til 10:30. But I went to sleep at ten. When Michael brought him to me at 10:30 it took a grand total of five minutes to nurse him to sleep and get him into his crib.

Then he slept for four hours. That might not sound like much, but compared to how he has been doing lately it was freaking luxurious. And after that he only woke up one more time, at which point I brought him into our bed so I could nurse while sleeping.

Thanks for the problem-solving suggestions. It helps to get other points of view when we're so deep in the trenches we can't see daylight. I do think it might be teething; his drool production has been pretty epic. He may also be headed for a developmental milestone, which of course is a well-known sleep disrupter. Twice in the last couple of days he's produced what sounds like a new word, although honestly we're still very much in the "could that possibly have been what it sounded like?" stage. So maybe it's his tiny teeth and brain that aren't letting him sleep, and not our massive parenting fail.

We are planning to try a new experiment of enforced bedtimes for adults in our family. It's just too tempting, even when we're exhausted, to stay up much later than we should enjoying the opportunity for peace, quiet, and adult-directed leisure activities. I really think that we would feel better, have more energy, and get more done if we got more sleep. So we're going to try a full week of "in bed by 10:15, lights out by 10:30." Some nights that might mean no leisure time at all after the kids are asleep and the house is cleaned up, but I think we've got to try it anyway.

Comments

[kcobweb.livejournal.com]

Could you possibly convince yourself/ves that getting to bed early several nights in a row might rejuvenate you enough to properly enjoy an evening of adult-directed leisure activities? Tell yourself that you are going to bed early tonight and tomorrow night (and maybe Wednesday - see how you feel) but that Thursday night is tentatively scheduled for Fun. That way you have it to look forward to.