Friday, March 4, 2011

sleep little lion man...

okay, it's settled: we need to work on milo's sleeping habits.

sometimes he'll sleep from 8 pm - 6 am. this would be fantastic if he slept this well every night, but he doesn't. it's usually random, and happens anywhere from once or twice a week to a couple times in a month? i guess i haven't been tracking it that closely, but regardless, it's not happening every night.

most nights he'll sleep for about 6 hours (usually, for example, from 8 pm - 2 am) and then another 3 hours or so after that.

last night he was up every two hours, and even let out a few complaints between wakings...

lucky me, though, i got together with a friend for coffee yesterday evening at about 5 - i thought, ohhhh, just half a cup with a lot of milk, and i'll be okay, yeah? yeahhhhh....

not so much.

i was in that weird dreamy-half-asleep-half-awake mode pretty much all night, which means every time he started fussing, i was already awake anyhow, so it made no sense to get frustrated about it.

anyhow, i'm ready to be done with this middle-of-the-night nonsense...

my only problem - well, two, really - is:
  1. it'll take more effort to "sleep train" him at night than it would to just get up, sleepily feed him and put him back to bed. (i've stopped changing his diaper at night, because he's also eating less at night, and the diaper can hold it. i've read/heard/been told it's fine to do this, so i'm okay with it, as long as it's only a wet diaper.) getting him to sleep through the night involves waiting 5 minutes to answer him when he cries, but leaving him in his crib when i do go in; helping him to calm down a little; leaving the room. then he'll probably start fussing again, this time i wait ten minutes? (or is it the next week i wait ten minutes? another component of this problem, i'm not exactly sure how to do this so-called "sleep-training," and the library doesn't carry the book by the guy who came up with it.) anyhow, it' just easier to give him what he wants... but clearly this is not the best.
  2. i also really love holding him when he's so peacefully sleeping all curled up in my arms. after he finishes his bottle at those night-time feedings, he turns his head into me, cuddling into my chest; it's unbelievably precious. it's also probably more dangerously addictive than hard drugs and pain killers.

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