Best nap day ever!

So yesterday I tried the same thing as the night before with nap times - nursed him, then put him into his bassinet and tried to pat him to sleep. The first nap he slept for 2 hours and fifteen minutes! Did not wake up one time! This is the longest he has slept by himself since he came home from the hospital! He has slept for longer (the longest was 3.5 hours) but it was always in the sling or next to me in the bed at night.

Awesome, right?? Oh I also tried to give him his bottle before that (which, if anyone is curious, was 2 ounces of breast milk, 1 ml of iron stuff, plus 1/4 tsp of formula). He ate one ounce and then started FREAKING OUT and wouldn't take the rest. I tried everything I knew how for 5 minutes to get him to take it and he just kept screaming. So I just nursed him. And even though I had just pumped he was definitely swallowing which I think is crazy. My boobs hate the pump and would rather keep the milk for the baby I think.

Then, second nap, did the same thing (no bottle, just nursing) - 1.5 hours! No waking up! AMAZING!

Then, third nap, took me a long time to get him down (like 30 minutes). Then the C-Monster was being super loud and woke him up after only 30 minutes. Then he was just a whiny baby (not really crying but "yelling"), so I started trying to get him to bed at about 6 (he had woken up from his last nap at 5:15).  Took me until 7 to get him to sleep, then shortly after Miss M was super loud in the bathroom and woke him (the perils of having 7 people in a less than 900 square foot house is that it is just hard for everyone to be quiet!). So, back to patting. He went right back to sleep...then woke up shortly after. And back to sleep, and back awake. And back to sleep, and back awake.

I honestly couldn't tell you how many times I got up with him last night. I'd reckon he woke up at least 10 times from the time I put him to sleep until he woke up for the day at 7.  He also wouldn't go back to sleep very easily; most nights he is out cold as soon as I nurse him for a few minutes.  Not last night!

Then today he wouldn't go down at all for first nap; finally I got him to sleep at like 10:50 and he slept for 45 minutes, woke, put himself back to sleep after a few minutes of crying, slept another 15 minutes, woke, put himself back to sleep, now we'll see how much longer he sleeps.

The thing is, he is a HAPPY kid! I mean I can tell when he's tired, but he doesn't just sit there and scream unless he's been awake for like 4-5 hours ("normal" wake time at his age, according to the experts, is no more than 2 hours at a time, so 4 or 5 hours is a lot!).  I don't feel like he's hungry. Preemies have a problem gaining weight which is why most of them are on high-calorie formula (or have breast milk that is fortified).

I think I just got lucky yesterday. And I have to say, it was AMAZING to not have him attached to me in one way or the other for so long. I got a lot of stuff done! Of course I had to check on him to make sure he was still breathing, which he was. He was just a tired tired baby. I wish he would have had those long stretches of sleep at night but, oh well.

I think we're just screwed with this sleep stuff and have to be thankful for what we get when we get it.

I think (think!) I'm going to start a sleep log to figure out how much he's actually sleeping in a 24 hour period. I bet with all his wakings that he does it's less than 12 hours total.

Comments

  1. I'm sure you've tried it, but have you tried letting Brian get up with him? Sometimes if they get the one without the milk, they eventually just stay asleep...
    other than that, I have to say your best solution will be time...Sam didn't sleep through the night until a few months ago! :(

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  2. Sleep is so precious!!! I don't know how you feel about giving him baby food yet, especially since you are breast feeding and it's going so good for you now, but maybe he's just not staying satisfied with just milk. Or if you didn't want to try baby food yet, maybe just cereal?

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    Replies
    1. I'm not sure how I feel about it either! I'd like him to be able to sit up by himself and also to not have the tongue thrust reflex before we try. He's just about 4 months old adjusted, I'm thinking we'll probably give it another month though.

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