One magical night in Oban, Scotland, the wee boy slept. Well, he only woke once, gave a huge scream, and promptly passed out again. Ah, Oban... we'll always have Oban.
He's never been a good sleeper. I've stopped complaining about that; it's much easier to deal with when I expect it, rather than hoping "tonight's the night!" and being disappointed. The crib has always been a battle, and we finally relented to co-sleeping/bedsharing. He sleeps with us now, and it is so much better. When I don't have to get out of bed to go to him, I am able to get more sleep myself. It's better that way. We're safe, I assure you, and we get the very best cuddles you could imagine.
Also, please don't offer suggestions on getting him to sleep. At this point, the suggestions just frustrate me, which I'm sure is my own hangup, but let's just not go there, okay? We read eleven sleep books and have tried everything. New methods give me false hope, then make me feel like a failure. I'm over it. And happy with things the way they are ... for the most part.
What I'm over is the night nursing. You see, I've started to get nursing agitation, which basically feels like a gazillion creepy crawlies are under my skin. It only happens when he nurses at night for some reason, and I can no longer deal with it. And so it is time to night wean.
A wonderful lactation consultant recommended a book called Nursies When the Sun Shines. The wee boy loooooves this book, which we read for about two months before deciding he was ready to implement the "Nursies when the sun shines" rule. It's a cute book that talks about how "nursies" go to sleep when it's dark out the window, and they wake up when the sun is out the window. Easy enough for a toddler to understand, right? The wee boy picked up on it right away, fussed and still sometimes
cries out for nursies all super sad-like in the night, but generally
will go back to sleep after cuddles and pats.
Until the sun creeps up.
The trouble is that we implemented said rule in June, which is when the sun comes up WAAAAAAAAAAY before anyone is actually ready to wake -- even our black out curtains have rays of light peeping around the edges. (Thankfully we aren't in Scotland, where the sun rises at, like, 3am in the summer.)
Last week I got him this alarm clock that turns green at a certain time because I can't stand the 5:30a, "Mommy, the sun is rising, mommy it's nursie time!" Now he at least knows to wait until his alarm turns green, and he gets sooooooo happy when it is green. ("Mommy mommy it's geen! May I have nursies now please?" Swoon, how could anyone refuse??) I'm hoping to slowly push the wakeup time back, but right now, he's still waking up and whining every day by 6a. Which, I suppose, is better than 5.
But yawn.
I should look into real estate in Oban.
He's never been a good sleeper. I've stopped complaining about that; it's much easier to deal with when I expect it, rather than hoping "tonight's the night!" and being disappointed. The crib has always been a battle, and we finally relented to co-sleeping/bedsharing. He sleeps with us now, and it is so much better. When I don't have to get out of bed to go to him, I am able to get more sleep myself. It's better that way. We're safe, I assure you, and we get the very best cuddles you could imagine.
Also, please don't offer suggestions on getting him to sleep. At this point, the suggestions just frustrate me, which I'm sure is my own hangup, but let's just not go there, okay? We read eleven sleep books and have tried everything. New methods give me false hope, then make me feel like a failure. I'm over it. And happy with things the way they are ... for the most part.
What I'm over is the night nursing. You see, I've started to get nursing agitation, which basically feels like a gazillion creepy crawlies are under my skin. It only happens when he nurses at night for some reason, and I can no longer deal with it. And so it is time to night wean.
Until the sun creeps up.
The trouble is that we implemented said rule in June, which is when the sun comes up WAAAAAAAAAAY before anyone is actually ready to wake -- even our black out curtains have rays of light peeping around the edges. (Thankfully we aren't in Scotland, where the sun rises at, like, 3am in the summer.)
Last week I got him this alarm clock that turns green at a certain time because I can't stand the 5:30a, "Mommy, the sun is rising, mommy it's nursie time!" Now he at least knows to wait until his alarm turns green, and he gets sooooooo happy when it is green. ("Mommy mommy it's geen! May I have nursies now please?" Swoon, how could anyone refuse??) I'm hoping to slowly push the wakeup time back, but right now, he's still waking up and whining every day by 6a. Which, I suppose, is better than 5.But yawn.
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| Look how happy I am. This was taken the day after Oban. Ahhhhh, Oban. |
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