His sleep patterns seemed to have gotten worse over the last three or four weeks, and two nights ago was probably the worst of them all (resulting in the desperate letter to my son below.) He does ok in his nursery at night, but the bad nights are just too much on me - waking up every two hours, climbing a set of stairs, feeding him, putting him back down, and then trying to get myself back to sleep - I was probably only getting four to five hours of sleep, if that. So I've started putting him back in the bassinet in our room at night if I'm exhausted. If going through a growth spurt wasn't enough, we stopped swaddling him because his pediatrician said we should start that process, and maybe that was just too much to ask. Babies should come with sleep manuals! He seems to be growing inches every day. Last week his legs didn't touch the bottom of his exersaucer...now he can stand flat footed in it and it's his favorite activity. He has the Johnny Jumper figured out too, and really enjoys bouncing in it. He has started making new and exciting noises including mimicking the farting noises we make to get him to smile. He's really in a daddy stage right now. He loves Brant's voice, and smiles the best for Brant. It's about the cutest thing, ever. Brant and I had a night out last weekend, while Grandma and Papa Bob watched Jack. We went to a friend's wedding and enjoyed our time with our friends. I'll admit that when we got home, I wanted to wake Jack up to cuddle him, but I resisted.
Here are some pictures that I just realized I haven't posted.
I whisper the OSU fight song to Jack every chance I get ;)
Going to meet Grandma and Great Aunt Cheryl for lunch:
Figuring out the Johnny Jumper
He thinks it's pretty cool!
After his 4 month appointment. Notice the band aids from his shots.
Brant and I at our friend's wedding
He is SO big and adorable!!! Wow!! The shot taken at the wedding of you guys looks awesome too!!
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't stress about the swaddling. Trust your instinct. The entire process took probably 2 months for Ellie, and I didn't start until she was 5 1/2 months. She just kept sleeping so poorly at night when I tried that I couldn't do it. I needed sleep!! I finally got up the courage to try it again and started only with naps and only with one arm out of the swaddle. We slowly worked our way to bedtime and slowly worked both arms out of the swaddle. Then, for a short period of time, she was sleeping with the swaddle blanket and both arms out. That's what worked for Ellie and I am sure kid #2 will be completely different. :) Just trust your instinct and do what you think is best. I guarantee he'll eventually sleep without a swaddle with no problem. :)
And if you ever come across an instructional manual for how to raise kids, I'd LOVE to see it. I could really use one right now too. :)