And The Winner From Last Night is...

...Christian! With 7 wake-ups to Daphne's 3. Good job Christian! And, Daphne only woke up crying hysterically twice. The other time she woke up and sang approximately 37 rounds of 'Old McDonald Had a Farm' (did you know Old McDonald had pumpkins? He did. A pumpkin here and a pumpkin there.) and she carried on a long and interesting monologue on how her Ducky Duck is a toy and not for eating.

Never a dull moment.

Who Wants To Buy Me a New Face?

Last night was one of those fun nights where Christian was up 3 times (normal for him), but Daphne wins the prize by getting up 4 times. Only one time did her waking coincide with a time I was up feeding Christian, otherwise she saved it for when C was sleeping.

I love it that my kids are such great sleepers.

Excuse me while I go Scotch tape my eyelids open for the day.

One Day These Will Be Fond Memories

I have a gift for producing children who hate sleep. I'm not exactly proud of this gift, but it's what I've got so I make the best of it.

For the past two weeks Christian has been getting up almost every hour, or like last night, staying up from 11PM-5AM. I read by candlelight while holding him. If I'm going to be pulling all-nighters I might as well do something fun while at it. I've also watch many cheesy Christmas movies via Netflix. Three in one night a couple of nights ago. I love a good cheesy Christmas movie.

David is tired, too, since he has to work 12 hour shifts everyday while Occupy Portland is going on.

To sum it up, David and I both look like our faces have been beaten by bags of rocks. And we both need haircuts. And Daphne has dried snot in her hair.

But look at that sweet face! Wouldn't it be nice if he made it more often...

Dear Sandman, Feel Free To Visit Us

For the first two weeks of Christian's life on the outside I was tempted to say, "what a good baby! look how well he sleeps!"

The hardest thing we (I) had to deal with during this time was his insane nursing binges he wanted to go on. Like 3, 4, 6 hours straight. I attribute that to the stomach flu that I got during his first week, where I was grossly sick and couldn't eat for a couple of days. Poor Christian lost bunches of weight his first week (a little more than normal) and had some jaundice issues, so I know he was just doing his best to be healthy. He wasn't quite back up to birth weight at his 2 week appointment, but he's chunking out just fine now.

Anyways, back to the main point of this post...the first two weeks were quite nice. You know, when a newborn can fall asleep anywhere you set them and sleep until they want to eat, and then you have to work really hard to keep them awake so they can eat, then they go back to sleep and stay that way until they want to eat again.

Then the 2 week mark comes and they wake up.















Right now our lives revolve around sleep training and staying home for naps and lots of crying from the small one when we don't get his nap started on time and exclamations of "will this child EVER sleep?!"















So far Christian is a zillion times easier to soothe than his sister ever was. I have not had to run the stairs even once. I'm not too upset about his sleep issues yet because after Daphne's tumultuous first year of no sleep, I know I will make it through and be OK no matter what type of sleeper he turns out to be.

Plus, Christian sounds like a billy goat when he cries, which I find awfully entertaining.

Add to that his cuteness, and it's hard to be too upset about anything.

I Miss My Brain

Christian was so generous last night that he let me sleep one entire hour.

Thanks for your kindness, bud.

Daphne, on the other hand, doesn't mind when he's awake.






















I don't always mind, either, but a little shut-eye in between the hours of 10PM and 6AM would be fine as well.






















(Did I spell all the words correctly in this post? Did I even write this post? Am I dreaming right now? Not sure...)

The Miracles Continue

That's right. She did it again. 12 hours of sleep.

Part of the reason this is so strange is because Daphne has never, ever, EVER dropped a night waking on her own. I read the books about feeding your baby every 3 hours from day one and then eventually they start dropping the times they wake up at night. Well, thank you books for getting my hopes up, because the only thing feeding Daphne every 3 hours accomplished was that Daphne wanted to eat every 3 hours around the clock for the rest of her life. Finally around 7 or 8 months I decided she did not still need to wake up every 3 hours to eat, so I cut out the 9PM and 3AM feedings.


















Please don't judge me for using the "cry it out" method. Believe me, I tried the other more gentle ways first. That trick where instead of giving them the bottle you sneakily give them the pacifier? Yeah, I'm pretty sure she grabbed that pacifier and threw it at my head. And then there's going in and holding them but not giving a bottle. Or gradually lowering the amount of milk you feed them at the nighttime feedings until they are down to nothing. Also not met with great amounts of enthusiasm.

I especially liked this trick for the children like Daphne who awaken at the exact same time every night: If they usually wake at 9, go in at 8 and get them to stir just a bit. You don't want them to wake up all the way, just enough so that they think they woke up and then they won't wake up at their usual time. Riiiiiight. So instead of waking 3 times a night she was up 6. Good one.



















After months of no improvement, I finally felt like I had to let her cry. I'm not a huge advocate of crying it out before a baby is 3 or 4 months old because I don't feel like they understand why you're not helping them. But 7 or 8 months? I just wanted to sleep. I just wanted Daphne to sleep. And I feel like it's important to nip sleep problems in the bud as early as possible. You don't want to be dealing with these issues during the toddler years when they are no longer confined to a crib and can get up to sneak into the pantry and smear peanut butter all over the walls.

She cried for hours and hours and hours, but after a week or two I finally got her down to 1 feeding a night. She still occasionally wakes around 9 and will be awake for several hours some nights, but she's fine just hanging out in her bed. And she still loves me so I don't think I did any lasting damage by leaving her to cry. I guess those issues will come up when she's in therapy in 20 years.

So, you see how it is so miraculous that all on her own she hasn't awakened for her 1 feeding. And I realize it's only been 2 nights, but at least I know she is thinking about being ready to sleep all night long.

Maybe there is something to letting a child be completely ready to drop his or her own feedings on his or her own terms. There is such pressure to have your baby sleeping through the night as early as possible...but I would have loved to have her drop feedings without the hours of crying that we went through. (Remember that David is gone at night, right? Listening to your baby cry while you have no one to go through it with you really stinks.) At the same time, I was not doing well sleeping in 2 hour chunks for all those months. It was very hard to function. So how do you balance doing what your baby needs you to do with doing what you need to do to function as a human being? I have no idea. Drugs? Drinking?



















I think praying. Lots and lots of praying. And when you feel like you can't do it anymore, you squeeze her a little tighter because you know life would be horrible without her, and you know that someday you'll look back and miss the time when she depended on you so much.

A Christmas Miracle

David brought home a sickness the other day. Daphne and I set up our defenses and tried to stay strong, but the sickness has taken us both down. Daph seems to be getting along with just a runny nose and a sneeze. She's truckin' around the house like nothing is holding her back, so I don't think she feels too awful.

But here's the exciting part...and it is very, very exciting. Daphne went to sleep around 6 last night (normal bedtime) and didn't wake up until...wait for it...6:10 this morning! First time in 14 months of sleeping all night long! It is a Christmas miracle.

I expect that this is a complete fluke and only related to her being sick. I remember about a year ago a similar thing happened, which is why I know tonight things will go back to normal.

But at least now we know it can happen.

There is hope.

Real Life

Can someone please tell me why my baby won't sleep? Please?

Nap time comes and she just sits in her bed.

Bed time comes and she wakes up every hour, sometimes staying awake for a few hours.

How can one survive on so little sleep?

How little sleep do you need before you get that disease where you lose your mind?














Oh wait, we may already be there.

Happy 4th???

Today started off with Daphne waking up at 5AM. This isn't altogether unusual; I just feed her and put her back to bed and she goes to sleep until 7 or so. But this morning she cried and cried until I finally gave up and got up with her at 6:15.

Yesterday she got up at 6:30. She took a 45 minute morning nap (should be at least 1 1/2 hours). She cried for an hour during her second nap until I just gave in and got her up (should have been 1 1/2 hour nap). We tried again an hour later and she slept for 1/2 an hour. It was 2:30 by this time, and I knew she wouldn't be able to stay awake until her 7PM bedtime. Well, let me rephrase that...she can stay awake, she's just crying her little baby head off for those 4 1/2 hours because she's so tired. Bedtime finally came and I put her down, where she cried for an hour before finally going to sleep. A bad day of sleeping yesterday meant a bad night of sleeping last night, meaning getting up at 5 this morning...needless to say, hopes are not high for a happy 4th.

I had given up on reading sleep solution books, mostly because they were frustrating me with all their contradictory information. But I keep hearing references to Marc Weissbluth's "Healthy Sleep Habits, Healthy Child," so I'm going to give it a read and see if there are any last tidbits of wisdom I can find on teaching my baby some healthy sleep habits. The library had a ridiculously long wait to check it out, so I spent a huge $5.50 and bought in on Half.com. I'm desperate here, and have no patience on waiting on a huge line of slow readers before I can see what this book has to offer. My one consolation is that since so many people want to check this book out, I must not be the only person in the world who is struggling with a child who won't sleep.

So Daphne is not sleeping because she's so tired and she's so tired because she's not sleeping. It's a delightful circle we're stuck in. Today she has been laying on the floor looking very sleepy. And being very sleepy at Starbucks. And being very sleepy and not looking at the camera.













































But it's nice that she has a cute 4th of July outfit. Two actually, so we'll have to rotate them all day long.

Call Me the Baby Whisperer

One of my favorite parenting books is The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems by Tracey Hogg. The theme of her book is how to get your baby on a routine, which in her case, she calls E.A.S.Y. You put your baby on a 3-ish hour rotation of Eat, Activity, Sleep, time for You. So, your baby eats, is awake for awhile, sleeps, you get your stuff done, and the cycle repeats. Except at night, of course, when you leave out the activity part.

We love this routine for a couple of reasons. One, your baby learns to go to sleep on her own without any props. Two, it helps take out some of the guesswork of why your baby may be fussy. If your baby is fussy after being awake for awhile, you know she's probably sleepy. Or if she's just gotten up and is fussy, you know she's probably hungry. Three, your baby gets used to the routine, and just sort of knows what to do next in her day. It's wonderful.

The author describes several baby personalities and how they may adapt to this routine. We've discovered that Daphne is a Spirited baby. She's very vocal when she needs something, doesn't like to sit around in a dirty diaper, moves around a lot, needs to be swaddled for sleep. It's a nice way of saying that she's high maintenance.

We've had a hard time getting her to go to sleep and to stay asleep. This book gave a great tip...watch very closely for your baby's sleep window. Whatever sign she might give to show she's tired, immediately start your sleep-time routine. I've finally discovered that our spirited Daphne has a very small sleep window. It's more like a sleep sliver. You miss it, and getting her to sleep is like pulling teeth. So basically, the whole time she's having her activity time, I am watching like a hawk for her first yawn. Then it's time to go to her room where it's dark (she's very distracted by lights), swaddle her up, and put her to bed. Within a few minutes, she's sound asleep. I catch her on the first yawn and everything goes perfectly. I get lazy and wait for yawn #2, or even worse, yawn #3, and it's all over. She cries a lot.




























If you miss her sleep window, er, sliver, pretty much the only way she'll sleep is if you strap her in the baby carrier and run up and down the stairs. Seriously. Simple rocking or walking around doesn't cut it anymore. So if you need a work out, feel free to come over here and carry Daphne up and down the stairs. It's great for your thighs.














Of course, by now I'm very good at catching yawn #1.