Sleep: The Follow-Up

The mournful pleas from a tired mommy weren’t really successful in their call for help. Although I did get a lot of camaraderie from other mothers who had been there and are still there, there were only two suggestions from the last blog: let Sully cry it out and try playing music. 

As for crying it out, I’m a little leery. I see that more as a “going to bed” solution, rather than a “wake up in the night” solution. I’m worried that an early morning wail session might lead not only to an exhausted mom and dad, but a tired and grumpy six year-old. While Scarlett does manage to sleep through most of Sully’s midnight feedings, I’m afraid that his prolonged crying would wake her right up. I also think it would make her feel bad for Sully. We tried this method a couple of times when he wouldn’t fall asleep in his crib. Even though we had prepared Scarlett for this method by explaining that Sully was okay and that we would check on him and soothe him along the way while he learned to fall asleep on his own, she looked at me with a pained expression as he wailed from his room and asked “Are you going to save Sully, Mommy?” That just about broke my heart. I haven’t had the desire to try that again in her presence. 

The other suggestion wasn’t quite as pervasive. Sound is a constant in Sully and Scarlett’s lives. I’m not proud of it, but we’re television people. We don’t necessarily use the TV to placate our children (although I think it has its place); we just function most days with background noise. Sometimes it’s music – more often than not it’s music from the music channels on television – other times we listen to sitcoms, the news or cartoons. We try our best to have moments when we don’t turn on the television, but most of the time we cave. Negative connotations aside, Sully is used to hearing some sort of sound throughout the day. So, having Sully fall asleep to music is a great idea, and one that we already utilize occasionally. 

What we ended up with was something very much out of our comfort zone. We got Sully some amber teething beads. I personally have a natural skepticism of homeopathic healing. I don’t think that it doesn’t work for some people; I just don’t really believe that it would work for me because I don’t believe in the general idea. However, we have several friends that use teething necklaces on their young’uns’ and they’ve all raved about them. So, I took myself down to the neighborhood natural parenting store and bought a set.

The idea behind amber being a soother for teething pain isn’t a new one. It’s been used in folk medicine as a healing agent/crystal. Apparently, the amber resin warms with the body’s temperature and releases oils, including succinic acid. This acid was historically used to treat aches and pains and is now used as a sweetener in food. 

In conclusion, Sully has slept through the night for almost a week now. Coincidence? Probably. Do I care what it was that finally worked? Nope!

The Business of Bedtime

Perhaps it’s because Sully’s getting older or maybe it’s because he’s teething, but going to bed isn’t the easy laid-back routine it used to be.

I used to be able to tuck his little arm under mine, turn him to the side, pat his bum and give him a pacifier. Two minutes and he would be out! I knew in time that I would have to redo our bedtime routine, but I really enjoyed our little quiet time with him staring into my eyes as they drifted closed. I love the idea of me being the very last thing he saw at night.

There was also a period of time, at about two months of age, where Sully was nearly sleeping through the night. I say nearly because he was waking at 5:00 or 5:30 a.m., but I really think that counts. A lot of people start their day that early, although I’m not one of them!

Starting about 2 months ago, things started to go downhill. Even though we started solid foods, which should be filling his little tummy, he started to wake up more and more. (He eats about six different solid food meals, including a snack right before bed with his milk.) And suddenly, he wasn’t content to fall asleep to mommy’s rhythmic patting or even while drinking milk. How dare! In fact, he’s been downright fussy up to an hour before bedtime.

For a while I blamed it on teething. I’m sure it was the cause of his distress for a while, since two little pearly points broke through. But how long can I blame this lack of a full night’s sleep on teething? I feel like I’m making excuses. I’m not sure why I’m embarrassed about him not sleeping, as a lot of my friends have babies that don’t sleep well or kids that never slept well when they were little. I think it may have something to do with Scarlett. She was nearly the perfect baby. I can remember exactly two times where she was fussing uncontrollably and she was sleeping well through the night since about three months old.

After dealing with that perfection, people warned us that the next one was going to be a hellion. Scarlett slept well, so the next one wouldn’t sleep at all. Scarlett is gentle and polite, so Sully would be rambunctious and tiresome. A lot of our friends and family have been good-naturedly waiting for this time. That’s probably why I don’t want to admit that we’re having trouble with bed.

Going to bed isn’t really what’s driving me crazy. It’s keeping Sully asleep. Right now he often wakes at midnight to eat and then again at 3:30-4 a.m. Sometimes he wakes up a few times between them and I’m able to pat him back to sleep. BUT MOMMY NEEDS SLEEP!! I cannot function this way for much longer – sleep deprivation is truly torturous! So that’s why I’m asking for help. I’m open to pretty much anything. Please don’t hesitate to make suggestions and I’ll do an update blog in a week or two letting everyone know the results.

Thanks Dave Vrbas for the ultra-cute naked Sully shot!

Size differential

Although this post is a month overdue, I'm going to write it anyway!

I've managed to dig up Scarlett's old growth chart. I thought it would be fun to compare Sullivan's size to Scarlett's at the same age. To my astonishment, the actual numbers aren't as far off as I expected. It's amazing that at such a young age, an inch or two makes such a huge difference in percentages.

Scarlett                                           Sullivan
Height: 25 in                                  27 in
Weight: 13.3                                  19.5
Head Circum: 16 1/4                     17.5

So that's the 75th percentile in height verses Sully's 100+. Scarlett's 50th % in weight verses Sully's 100+ (the biggest difference) Lastly, Scarlett's 60th % in head circumference verses Sully's, again, 100+. Notice in the pictures below that we still had to use a car seat head guard for Scarlett at 4 months old. Sully's legs hang off of the end of that same car seat and his head grazes the top.

On a side note, Sullivan is no longer sleeping through the night. Boo! First it was the teething that kept getting him up. Now it's the rolling over and getting stuck. I'm getting jealous of other mom's I know with babes his age (or younger!) who are sleeping through the night. I know it's a phase because Scarlett went through it too and she was an extremely good sleeper. It's hard to remember that when I wake up looking at the clock through bleary eyes at 2:30 a.m.

He's also up on all fours rocking quite a bit. He's given up on scooting forward (which we were counting as crawling) and has now resigned himself to working his way backwards across the room. It's quite surprising to find him underneath the coffee table or near the front door when I leave the room!

Here's another picture of Scarlett, which shows her skinny little arms and legs!

Happy near Friday from a happy baby!

I don't really have much to share lately.

It's been a whirlwind of activities this summer, for both Scarlett and Sully. We've been shuttling Scarlett to and from event and clubs, which has put a little bit of a bend in Sully's routine. Our niece is also staying with us, so that's been a scheduling challenge too.

Overall, Bacon has handled the change of pace nicely. In between naps, he's worked in two teeth and a bit of crawling! Things are happening very quickly!

Routine?

It's been nearly 4 months since Sully was born. I've had four months to "settle in." Yet, I still don't feel like we've hit a routine. I'm not sure if that's due to the busy Summer months or maybe just the fact that we have a baby. When does it kick in? At some point I feel like we should get to the point of following nightly routines and schedules - normalcy, but nearly every night I feel overwhelmed. Like this has all just happened. It's a strange feeling. It's somewhat like being on this roller coaster or Speed-like bus that hasn't slowed down enough for me to jump off!

Updates:
* I'm still producing a little milk, which makes for fun shirt fronts if I forget to wear the little protective pads.
* Sully is now sometimes eating 7 and 8 ounces at a time. It's clear that he's going to eat us out of house and home.
* My hair is still coming out, a little less now. Enough to make quite a hairball, though, each time I shower.
* We recently had family portraits taken. I seriously have the most gorgeous children known to man.
* After seeing my co-worker's 3-week old baby, I now have newborn fever. I know, I know... I have a baby! He's so tiny though! No, Casey! This is it!

Post-partum suckiness

My hair is falling out. Not just a few strands, but entire clumps. Every morning I pull a small rodent-sized mass out of the drain. That’s just one of the many fun things that have happened to my body post-pregnancy. (And post-pumping)

• Hair loss
• Ginormous breasts (Insert smart-ass comment by Ben)
• Leaky breasts
• Weight gain
• That nice weight loss that I experienced after birth and next two months has gone away. L Super hungry and still eating the same amount as when I was pumping. Ugh.
• Attack of the hormones!
• Happy? Yes! Crying? Yes! Pissed? Yes! All at once!
• Extreme fatigue
• Lugging around the baby, getting up at night/early morning, hormones etc.
• Night sweats

Gotta love all of these changes!

Facing the inevitable

Well, the day has come. The lake has dried up. The cups aren’t runneth over. I have run out of steam. Idioms and cliches aside, the breast milk has come and gone. I shouldn’t have been surprised. I didn’t last this long with Scarlett and my supply has never been strong.

I’ve known that I was getting close to the end for about two weeks. No matter how much water I drink or how regularly I pump, my production was taking a nose-dive. The last few days I only pumped about one ounce per day, which we all know, won’t feed my little piggy!

So… I’m done.

On one hand, I’m sad to be done so soon. I liked the idea of giving Sullivan a little of my milk every day. It made me feel a little closer to him – a little more bonded. I also liked the thought that the little bit of milk that I produced gave us a little bit of savings in the formula department. Formula is insanely expensive and we don’t have the hookup to cheap formula that we did with Scarlett. Things are tight around our house with two daycare payments and all of the formula to buy!

On the other hand, I’m experiencing a new freedom that I haven’t known with Sully. I’m not tied down to anything or any time, which is really nice. I don’t have to shut myself into an empty office at work and spend three 15-20 minute stretches shirking my work responsibilities. I don’t have to worry about the effects of anything that I eat or drink, which means… BRING ON THE MARGARITAS!

So on this day, my first day of not pumping, I both mourn and celebrate. I did what I could for Sullivan and I feel good about it. I may regret this decision once I start to get engorged and sore!