Update . . . a new hurdle

So, its been almost a month since I updated Alyssa's sleep log. She actually went a week straight of sleeping through the night . . . then things started falling apart. AKA she learned how to sit up and stand up in her crib BUT she did not learn how to sit down and/or LAY down in her crib from those positions. So as soon as she wakes up UP she pops to a standing position and she starts fussing. But since she can't sit herself or lay herself back down, I have to go in each time and put her back to sleep. A couple times all it took was me picking her up and putting her back down on her tummy, but for the most part I had to rock her/nurse her to get her to go back to sleep. And forget trying to lay her down away anymore . . . as soon as I put her down her little legs scoot under her and she starts sitting up. And I just don't have it in me to pin my child down to her mattress to try to get her to go stay down. Things were going so well because she could easily put herself back to sleep when she woke up when she wasn't so mobile. I think I read in the "No Cry Sleep Solution" book that when babies learn new "tricks" they will do them over and over and over again until the novelty wears off. I hope that this is all it is or that the kid learns how to sit down from a standing position. I've tried just leaving her to fuss when she stands up at night and hope that she'll put herself down, but the few times I've done that she's fallen down, which of course means that she needs a good cuddle. If its not one thing its another ~ I keep holding on to that one blissful week that I got to sleep well. That'll last me another year or so, right? Ugh.

June 6th

My crazy brain is trying to figure out if I could graph Alyssa's sleep pattern to try to see how variables such a nap time or even day of the week impact her sleeping. I'm such a nerd!

Wake at 8:15 AM (I think)
Nap from 12:00 AM - 3:15 AM
Down at 9:10 PM ~ I actually put her down pretty awake and she didn't cry for any more than 2 minutes. I can handle the CIO when its just a couple minutes; its when it goes on past that it tugs at the old heartstrings.
Wake 12:40 AM - 1:15 AM ~ Nursed
3:15 AM ~ 3:30 AM ~ Just rocked. She woke up when I laid her down, but only fussed/whined for about a minute after I left the room
5:50 AM - 6:50 AM ~ Various forms of nursing and cuddling in my bed, then put her down in her crib after she fell asleep
6:50 AM - 9 AM

TNS = 12 hours 10 minutes
NOW = 3
LSS = 3 hours 30 minutes
TTA = 1 hour 50 minutes
TDS = 3 hours 15 minutes
T24 = 13 hours 35 minutes

I wish I didn't get so frustrated with all her night wakings. I used to never mind it ~ I actually enjoyed cuddling with her on the couch in the middle of the night watching Nick at Night, but now I get so angry with her when she's up ~ makes me feel like a really rotten mom.

June 5th

Yawn . . .

Up at 6:35 AM
Nap 9 AM - 11:30 AM (2 hours 30 minutes)
Nap 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM (1 hour 30 minutes)
Down at 9 PM
Wake from 11:40 - 12:05 (25 minutes)
1:50 - 3:50 (2 hours) ~ this one still ticks me off. I got up with her for a little over an hour, then I really started getting frustrated, so I told Adam if he wanted his daughter in one piece he needed to take her for awhile. He was up with her for about 30 minutes and then handed her off to me. I rocked with her for a few minutes, but then I got frustrated again and laid her down in her crib, covered her, turned on the aquarium, and told her that she NEEDED to go to sleep right now. She whined/fussed as I left the room but was out cold (or at least quiet as a mouse) by the time I got to our bedroom. Grrrr ~ would she have done that if I would have laid her down 2 hours earlier? Let's say no so that my awake time wasn't in vain.

TNS = 11 hours 15 minutes
NOW = 2
LSS = 4 hours 25 minutes
TTA = 2 hours 25 minutes
TDS = 4 hours
T24 = 12 hours 50 minutes . . . not too bad. Better than 10 hours.

June 4th

Not so great night. Not horrible, but I was starting to get spoiled with all the sleep! ;) I realized that I'm really bad about keeping her schedule on weekends. We had to be out and about so much yesterday and Alyssa didn't get much in the nap arena at all. The one nap that she did get down for didn't last as long as it usually does ~ I wonder if the bustle of the house on the weekend woke her up. I'm making a pact with myself to be better about keeping routines on weekends . . . but its so easy to get off routine when there's another parent around to help out, which distracts me so that I do other things around the house.

Anywhoooo . . .
Up for the day at 7
Nap 10 - 10:40 (40 minutes)
Napped in the car for maybe 30 minutes
Down at 9:10
Wake 12:18 - 12:28 (10 minutes)
2:25 - 2:55 (30 minutes)
Up for the day at 6:35

We had company last night, so she was very stimulated until bedtime. And I didn't nurse her (or offer to nurse her) as often as I normally would have. And I was a horrible mommy and realized at about 4 pm that she hadn't had any solid food, so she ate each time she woke up last night. Part of me wonders if she didn't get a chance to "tank up" and if that's why she didn't sleep as well. You can bet I'll be tanking her up today!

TNS = 9 hours 25 minutes
NOW = 2
LSS = 3 hours 40 minutes
TTA = 40 minutes
TDS = 1 hour 20 minutes
T24 = 10 hours 5 minutes ~ whoops!

June 3rd

And I thought 4-5 hours straight through was bliss . . . try 8 hours, baby! That's right folks, she slept through the night. Its more than likely just a fluke, but I'm feeling free to do a little jig anyway.

Bedtime routine included:
9 pm bottle (which she fell asleep during)
Gas drops aka "tummy juice"
Put her down in her crib and turned on her aquarium to music only
I did switched the night light, but who knows if that made a difference or not ~ I'm not in any rush to change the night light now!

She's still sleeping so I'll have to edit this later for her "numbers", but I'm wide awake at 6:30, so figured I may as well catch up my blogs.

Update ~ She slept until 7 AM.

TNS = 10 hours
NOW = 0!
LSS = 10 hours
TTA = 0 minutes!
TDS = 2 hours (not so hot, only 1 nap today)
T24 = 12 hours

Night Light?

Last night I was having a hard time getting Alyssa settled down enough to rock after her bottle. She wouldn't even nurse, so I ended up turning off her nightlight so that the room was pitch black. Within a few seconds she settled down to eat and ended up dosing off. So, tonight I'm going to switch to her "not so bright" night light from her "super duper bright" night light and see if it makes any difference. I'm obviously not a chemistry/science person because you aren't supposed to add in all these variables if you're doing an experiement or trying to prove a hypothesis, I don't think. Or at least do more tests on the "subject" before changing the environment. I am, however, a tired mom who will do anything short of bargaining with the devil to get her child to sleep better. Heck, I may even be to that point by this time next week if things don't continue to go well! (kidding . . . I think)

June 2nd

Not perfect, but pretty darn close and I'll take it!

Up for the day at 7:45
Nap 8:50 - 10:10 (1 hour 20 minutes)
Nap 12 - 2:15 (2 hours 15 minutes)
Nap 4:50 - 5:20 (30 minutes)

Down for the night at 9:30. Bottle starting around 8:30, then at 9 went upstairs to rock and nurse. Put her down and rubbed her head and back for a bit in the crib and left the room after lots of kisses. She cried for about 90 seconds.
Wake 2:20 - 2:35 (nursed)
Up for the day at 8:05

Yes, that's right ~ she was only up ONCE! And I got 4 - 5 solid hours of sleep in a row. I feel like a new woman.

TNS = 10 hours 35 minutes
NOW = 1!
LSS = 5 hours 30 minutes
TTA = 15 minutes!
TDS = 4 hours 10 minutes
T24 = 14 hours 30 minutes . . . much better!

June 1st

I'm a bit fuzzy on part of last nights log because I asked Adam to get up a couple times time her. I hope something breaks soon, because if she doesn't start sleeping better I feel like I'm going to fall apart. I get so hopeful as we're putting her down that this is going to be THE night ~ the night that she only wakes once, the night that she goes back to sleep 8 hour stretches. I'm not asking for straight through the night; I'm just asking to be able to get more than 3 hours sleep at a time. Is that too much to ask?

Up for the day at 8:50
Nap 11:10 - 1:25 ( 2 hours 15 minutes)
Nap 4:10 - 5:10 (1 hour)

*note ~ I was really happy with today's naps because she didn't seem to get tired last night until it was closer to bed time, so we didn't have the 7 pm nap, but I think caused bedtime to be later on Tuesday night*

Down for the night at 9 PM
Wake 9:55 - 10 (5 minutes) (did not pick her up, just cuddle over the side of the crib)
10:55 - 12:40 (1 hour 45 minutes) (ouch!)
3:25 - 3:30 (5 minutes)
4:50 - 5:10 (20 minutes)
6:00 - 6:15 (15 minutes)
Up for the day at 7:45 (between 7 and 7:45 she woke up, fussed, and went back to sleep multiple times, so I don't know if this can be counted as sleep time or not.)

TNS = 10 hours 45 minutes
NOW = 5
LSS = 2 hours 45 minutes
TTA = 2 hours 30 minutes
TDS = 3 hours 15 minutes
T24 = 11 1/2 hours
grrrr ~ back to 11 hours of sleep . . . I really feel like the key is to get extend this to at least 13 hours. Maybe once she's consistenly sleeping 13 hours things will be better. As I see it I have two options, but neither one are that great.

1. Start co-sleeping again. She sleeps really well and longer stretches. I don't sleep as well as I do on my own, but I sleep better than getting up every 2 hours. Downside is that it'll probably be a struggle to get her back to sleeping on her own once she starts sleeping more and catches up on sleep.
2. Nurse her everytime she wakes up. It puts her to sleep within a few minutes, so at least we wouldn't have huge chunks of time like the almost two hours last night (and I did end up nursing her so that she would finally go to sleep). Downside to this is that she was finally going through the night without eating, but I think it'll be easier to break her of the eating habit than the co-sleeping on.

Okay, battle plan for tonight . . . boob every time she wakes. A little part of me says "Maybe that won't be needed; maybe tonight she'll sleep great". DAMN the optimistic in me! It just gets crushed every night!