ravings of the sleep-deprived
WOW! The n00blet is asleep! While I am awake!
*runs about the house cheering quietly*
W00T! W00t!
Yes, friends and neighbors, we are sliding into the typical scenario wherein we parents are going on 4-5 hours a night because SOMEBODY (a very *cute* somebody) doesn't want to go to sleep before 3am.
Well we tried last night. Oh yes I did. But doncha know n00blet's have their ways of keeping you up. Ours is not the type to go wantonly screaming or crying, no, she's more *dignified* apparently. She lays in the bed next to me and pretends that nursing is a grand idea but once engaged, she writhes, thrashes, grunts, groans, flails arms and generally makes it impossible for us to sleep. So I rise up and look down at yon heir to find she is grinning up at me, pleased as punch to have effected my getting up. After several rounds of "kick-the-mommy" and "twist-the-nipple" I come to my senses and get out of bed, bringing her with me. She, of course, is doubly pleased about this event. We played quietly on the floor for another hour. Around 4am, yes, we slept. Finally. So I wake up at 1pm and thank GAHD I do not have a job which requires me to rise up at a regular time.
This is me thumbing my nose at all you workers. Except you can all take solace in the fact that you can go to bed any damned time you want and no one is going to ruin that. I think I left my brains back in the bed. But I damn sure am not tiptoeing into the bedroom in order to retrieve anything. Lil Miss sleeps now and hopefully I will be able to do SOMETHING sans baby-on-the-arm before she wakes. Maybe. Or maybe i'll just sip more coffee and revel in a quiet house. HAHAHAHA! Oh dang, the other kids will be coming home from school soon. Damn.
4 Comments
oxdottirI give you sympathy in loads. Honestly, at some point in my son's development I felt like I suddenly regained 20 IQ points. And I should probably stop at sympathy because you didn't' ask for help, but I will tell you that Ferber's book really helped me when my child was a few months old. I know it's not for everybody, and the whole set of those books are controversial, but I found Ferber to be gentle and helpful (as opposed to Weissbluth, for example). I used to tell people, as my son aged, that I wished I had had a book like that about eating, because my son always slept well, but he was a picky food eater.
Anyway, feel free to take that as the annoying feedback people always give to parents, but I mean it in sympathy and wishes for your happiness.
mlxI Ferberized my babies at about 10-12 months, when they started eating finger foods and slept well through the night. I'm feeling your pain, smibbo, and had many sleepless nights with both mine while I was nursing.
oxdottirOh, I didn't do anything that could be called ferberizing until a bit past then either, but the insight I learned from the book helped in terms of small adjustments to infancy: developing a nighttime routine: not changing the state of the falling-asleep-place after the child falls asleep (Ferber pointed out how upset adults are if they wake up and their pillow is suddenly gone), making nighttime feedings very lowkey and not fun and interactive. That sort of thing. Just, nighttime is for sleeping or wishing you were, and daytime is for playing and giggly diapering and all. Pretty much common sense stuff, but as a first time mom, I hadn't thought of it.
I still remember telling a friend of mine about my son's nighttime feedings and the friend saying "you mean you have conversations at that time of night? I'm more like a warm lump for midnight feedings." That kind of fit in with what Ferber was saying.
Anyway, I hate sleep deprivation. I always laugh at expectant fathers who seem to think the worst thing about parenting is going to be diapering. Ha ha ha ha. If only.
Farhad2000My mum used to just give us a hot bath at night, then warp us like cigars in a blanket, hold us firm while patting us whispering a steady pattern of 'aboo', that shit always knocked me out for good.
Discuss...
Enable JavaScript to submit a comment.