Allie caught a cold/cough a couple of days ago. She gave it to me. One of us gave it to Lexi. Lexi doesn't sleep well when she's sick. So, neither do I, even though I'd like to. Allie sleeps like the baby she is, whether she's sick or not. Elian isn't sick. And he would've slept like a baby if he had slept downstairs on the couch, away from the rest of us, like he's been doing for the past year. But he made the mistake of trying to sleep upstairs last night. I'm betting he doesn't do that again until the girls move out.
So, why is it that the little baby who brought all the sickness into the house is the only one who slept well?
Showing posts with label sleep. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sleep. Show all posts
2.27.2010
7.30.2009
Um...What?
So Allie is almost two weeks old and continues to baffle me with her extraordinary ability to sleep. Except for when she's eating, which is every 2-3 hours, Allie is probably only awake about 2 hrs/day. Um... is this normal?
Our first child hated to sleep and would still choose to stay up all night if we let her. As a baby Lexi would only sleep during the day if someone held her. She didn't sleep through the night until she was 9 months old, and she's always resisted napping. We knew these were not "normal" sleep habits for a baby. And then we had Allie.
This kid literally sleeps all say and all night, waking up only to eat, with her eyes closed so she doesn't waste any precious time falling back asleep as soon as her tummy is full. We've tried to wake her up, to no avail. So we wait until she wakes up on her own, which is once or twice in a 24 hour period, and then try to stimulate her enough to keep her up for a couple of hours. Last night that plan back fired. After she was up for 1.5 hours, she was apparently too tired to fall asleep and instead spent 6 hrs being completely unhappy, unable to find a satisfactory way to put herself back to sleep. So today I have let her sleep whenever she wants. And she has. All day. Minus feedings and one 1.5 hr stretch that included her pooping all the way up her back, thus necessitating an impromptu bath. Which she hated.
And did I mention she can sleep anywhere? On my bed, on the couch, in the swing, in the bouncy seat, in someone's arms, in her crib, in the car, AND in her bassinet. Um...What? That's 7 more places than Lexi could sleep. And if I need to move her from one of these locations to another, she STILL doesn't wake up.
And Allie can sleep through anything. Through tornado sirens, thunderstorms, TV shows, laundry buzzers, doorbells, Elian's snoring, Lexi crying/shrieking/talking at an incredibly high volume inches from her face, and Lexi hugging/kissing/holding her a thousand times a day.
So, is THIS normal newborn sleep? I'm so thankful Lexi came first and Allie came second so we weren't spoiled to begin with.
Our first child hated to sleep and would still choose to stay up all night if we let her. As a baby Lexi would only sleep during the day if someone held her. She didn't sleep through the night until she was 9 months old, and she's always resisted napping. We knew these were not "normal" sleep habits for a baby. And then we had Allie.
This kid literally sleeps all say and all night, waking up only to eat, with her eyes closed so she doesn't waste any precious time falling back asleep as soon as her tummy is full. We've tried to wake her up, to no avail. So we wait until she wakes up on her own, which is once or twice in a 24 hour period, and then try to stimulate her enough to keep her up for a couple of hours. Last night that plan back fired. After she was up for 1.5 hours, she was apparently too tired to fall asleep and instead spent 6 hrs being completely unhappy, unable to find a satisfactory way to put herself back to sleep. So today I have let her sleep whenever she wants. And she has. All day. Minus feedings and one 1.5 hr stretch that included her pooping all the way up her back, thus necessitating an impromptu bath. Which she hated.
And did I mention she can sleep anywhere? On my bed, on the couch, in the swing, in the bouncy seat, in someone's arms, in her crib, in the car, AND in her bassinet. Um...What? That's 7 more places than Lexi could sleep. And if I need to move her from one of these locations to another, she STILL doesn't wake up.
And Allie can sleep through anything. Through tornado sirens, thunderstorms, TV shows, laundry buzzers, doorbells, Elian's snoring, Lexi crying/shrieking/talking at an incredibly high volume inches from her face, and Lexi hugging/kissing/holding her a thousand times a day.
So, is THIS normal newborn sleep? I'm so thankful Lexi came first and Allie came second so we weren't spoiled to begin with.
9.18.2008
Napping Woes
Lexi has never been a good napper. Ever. Even as a newborn, she fought sleeping during the day and chose to cry/scream instead. It was awful.
Nowadays, she is happy during the day, but come the afternoon she refuses to nap. So come the late afternoon/evening, we are both exhausted and she is quite unpleasant. I've tried putting her down right after lunch, with a full tummy, in her crib, and making her stay there for at least 45 minutes. She screams the entire time. I let her scream for 10 days before I decided that wasn't going to work. I've tried shifting nap time earlier and later with no success. I've changed locations to my bed, the floor in her room, the floor in my room, and the floor in the living room, but she thinks that means she can crawl away and go play instead of sleep. The only time I can get her to nap is if she falls asleep in the car and I bring her in the house and lay her down in the living room. If I lay her in her crib she immediately wakes up crying (and usually doesn't go back to sleep).
Napping in the car is interesting. If we drive in the car anytime past 11 AM, she will fall asleep. That tells me she should be able to fall asleep at home anytime past 11 AM. But she refuses.
The really weird thing is she is a GREAT night sleeper. I lay her in her crib wide awake and walk away and usually never hear a peep from her. Yet following the exact same routine for nap time leads only to misery. This is a mystery to me.
Needless to say, I am at my wits end with this napping business. Forcing her to nap/scream in her crib is grinding on the nerves and she never goes to sleep that way. Allowing her to skip a nap altogether makes both of us tired and grouchy by late afternoon and ruins a peaceful bedtime because she usually passes out for a nap around 5 - 6 PM.
Today she has only slept for 10 minutes, so I've been trying to encourage a nap the whole afternoon. No cigar, and the grumpiness is setting in. Feel free to pray :)
Nowadays, she is happy during the day, but come the afternoon she refuses to nap. So come the late afternoon/evening, we are both exhausted and she is quite unpleasant. I've tried putting her down right after lunch, with a full tummy, in her crib, and making her stay there for at least 45 minutes. She screams the entire time. I let her scream for 10 days before I decided that wasn't going to work. I've tried shifting nap time earlier and later with no success. I've changed locations to my bed, the floor in her room, the floor in my room, and the floor in the living room, but she thinks that means she can crawl away and go play instead of sleep. The only time I can get her to nap is if she falls asleep in the car and I bring her in the house and lay her down in the living room. If I lay her in her crib she immediately wakes up crying (and usually doesn't go back to sleep).
Napping in the car is interesting. If we drive in the car anytime past 11 AM, she will fall asleep. That tells me she should be able to fall asleep at home anytime past 11 AM. But she refuses.
The really weird thing is she is a GREAT night sleeper. I lay her in her crib wide awake and walk away and usually never hear a peep from her. Yet following the exact same routine for nap time leads only to misery. This is a mystery to me.
Needless to say, I am at my wits end with this napping business. Forcing her to nap/scream in her crib is grinding on the nerves and she never goes to sleep that way. Allowing her to skip a nap altogether makes both of us tired and grouchy by late afternoon and ruins a peaceful bedtime because she usually passes out for a nap around 5 - 6 PM.
Today she has only slept for 10 minutes, so I've been trying to encourage a nap the whole afternoon. No cigar, and the grumpiness is setting in. Feel free to pray :)
8.20.2008
Human Pillow
We are on vacation right now, which means Lexi is sleeping in a port-a-crib in my room. She went to bed 2.5 hrs late last night, and we traveled one time zone later, so I was praying that she would sleep past 8 AM, local time. Not so.
She woke up groggy about 7 AM, realized she wasn't at home, and began surveying her new environment. That's when she spotted Mommy on the bed. Once she saw me, she had to come get in bed with me. She was still tired, so I scooped her up as quickly as I could, and laid back down with her on my bed. She knew she was still tired, so she tried to get comfortable enough to fall back asleep.
I don't know why, but whenever I bring her to sleep in my bed, which is seldom, Lexi finds the only way she can fall back to sleep is if she uses my face as a pillow. Most of the time, as was the case this morning, she wants me to turn my head side ways so she can lay her left cheek on my right cheek. Sometimes she likes to climb over me and put her chest on my cheek and rest her head upside down on the slope of my head. Odd. Many times the child actually falls back asleep in these crazy positions. But guess who doesn't. Mama. In fact, I do everything I can just to make sure I can still breathe. And although I usually find this AM charade comes too early to be entertaining, by the time she falls asleep on me, I am reminded of how cute she really is and of how blessed I am to be Lexi's mama.
She woke up groggy about 7 AM, realized she wasn't at home, and began surveying her new environment. That's when she spotted Mommy on the bed. Once she saw me, she had to come get in bed with me. She was still tired, so I scooped her up as quickly as I could, and laid back down with her on my bed. She knew she was still tired, so she tried to get comfortable enough to fall back asleep.
I don't know why, but whenever I bring her to sleep in my bed, which is seldom, Lexi finds the only way she can fall back to sleep is if she uses my face as a pillow. Most of the time, as was the case this morning, she wants me to turn my head side ways so she can lay her left cheek on my right cheek. Sometimes she likes to climb over me and put her chest on my cheek and rest her head upside down on the slope of my head. Odd. Many times the child actually falls back asleep in these crazy positions. But guess who doesn't. Mama. In fact, I do everything I can just to make sure I can still breathe. And although I usually find this AM charade comes too early to be entertaining, by the time she falls asleep on me, I am reminded of how cute she really is and of how blessed I am to be Lexi's mama.
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