i am a firm believer in comeuppance. (/kə'məpəns/ noun: a punishment or fate someone deserves)
maybe you call it karma?
whatever it is, i'm getting mine.
i've bragged on john's sleeping ability since he was born. he was never that baby who was up every hour. he slept great even at a few days old. starting out, he'd sleep 3-4 hours at a time. not too bad for a new baby. then he graduated to 5-6 hours. by three months old, he was only waking up once a night, at about 3:30 a.m., for a feeding and snuggle session. he's never really napped much, just a few minutes at a time, but at night - great! "not too shabby," i thought. "my kid is a sleeping pro," i said aloud.
enter comeuppance.
john has forgotten how to sleep. i don't know if he's going through a growth spurt, or finally working on those teeth his gums have been promising, or suffering from some of his man-sized gas in a wee little belly, but for some reason, he's up every hour lately. (and for those of you saying, give that baby some rice cereal!: it's not hunger waking him up. more on that in a sec!)
at first, i indulged him. of course - he's six months old! that's what mamas do. but we're working on day nine of not sleeping more than two hours at a time, and you know what? mama's feeling less indulgent. as of tuesday night, i have a new plan.
if it's been more than three hours since he ate, of course i am going to feed him. but since he definitely isn't asking to be fed every hour during the day, there's no reason he needs to eat every hour at night. and most times, he's been taking three sips and conking out.
so instead, i sleepwalk into his room, put his paci in his mouth and his bear in his arms, say "i love you," and sleepwalk back to my bed. he doesn't keep crying. doesn't always go right back to sleep - then i'm back in in 20 minutes saying "i love you" as i replace the paci - but he doesn't keep squalling.
and i think, already, that we're making some progress. last night, he woke up once at about 12:30a.m. (more than three hours since bedtime, so i fed him and snuggled him back to sleep. ok so i fell asleep in the glider and woke up to put him in his crib at 1:30 a.m., but who's counting?)
then he was up again at about 2:30a.m.: paci, bear, "i love you." 2:45 a.m.: paci, bear, "i love you." then not a peep til 6 a.m. that's a victory, right?
so who knows when i'll get a full night's sleep again. but you know what? it's all relative. two three-hour naps has me bright-eyed and bushy-tailed compared to the past few days!
and one day, queen mab will again visit our household. and this time, i won't take her for granted. my comeuppance only has to come up once.
(see what i did there?)
maybe you call it karma?
whatever it is, i'm getting mine.
i've bragged on john's sleeping ability since he was born. he was never that baby who was up every hour. he slept great even at a few days old. starting out, he'd sleep 3-4 hours at a time. not too bad for a new baby. then he graduated to 5-6 hours. by three months old, he was only waking up once a night, at about 3:30 a.m., for a feeding and snuggle session. he's never really napped much, just a few minutes at a time, but at night - great! "not too shabby," i thought. "my kid is a sleeping pro," i said aloud.
enter comeuppance.
john has forgotten how to sleep. i don't know if he's going through a growth spurt, or finally working on those teeth his gums have been promising, or suffering from some of his man-sized gas in a wee little belly, but for some reason, he's up every hour lately. (and for those of you saying, give that baby some rice cereal!: it's not hunger waking him up. more on that in a sec!)
at first, i indulged him. of course - he's six months old! that's what mamas do. but we're working on day nine of not sleeping more than two hours at a time, and you know what? mama's feeling less indulgent. as of tuesday night, i have a new plan.
if it's been more than three hours since he ate, of course i am going to feed him. but since he definitely isn't asking to be fed every hour during the day, there's no reason he needs to eat every hour at night. and most times, he's been taking three sips and conking out.
so instead, i sleepwalk into his room, put his paci in his mouth and his bear in his arms, say "i love you," and sleepwalk back to my bed. he doesn't keep crying. doesn't always go right back to sleep - then i'm back in in 20 minutes saying "i love you" as i replace the paci - but he doesn't keep squalling.
and i think, already, that we're making some progress. last night, he woke up once at about 12:30a.m. (more than three hours since bedtime, so i fed him and snuggled him back to sleep. ok so i fell asleep in the glider and woke up to put him in his crib at 1:30 a.m., but who's counting?)
then he was up again at about 2:30a.m.: paci, bear, "i love you." 2:45 a.m.: paci, bear, "i love you." then not a peep til 6 a.m. that's a victory, right?
so who knows when i'll get a full night's sleep again. but you know what? it's all relative. two three-hour naps has me bright-eyed and bushy-tailed compared to the past few days!
and one day, queen mab will again visit our household. and this time, i won't take her for granted. my comeuppance only has to come up once.
(see what i did there?)
Comments
Claire
http://mylifeitsmeaningandallthatjazz.blogspot.com/