Night-time parenting

Unfortunately last night brought more of the same.  I was up from midnight until 3am and then again at 4:15am, 5:20am and 6:30am.  The long three hour stretch was mainly down to wind.  A good deal of baby massage and the trumps ensued!  Although I solved the wind problem, I then had a very wide awake baby to deal with.  Alas!

Last night I was better equipped psychologically to deal with being kept awake.  I actually didn't mind being on duty.  Part of this is down to reading the Dr Sears book, which changes the language around baby sleep substituting 'putting baby to sleep at night' with 'night-time parenting'.  It has realigned my thinking and helped me accept that my baby isn't an annoying barrier to my own sleep but my parental responsibility; helping him to sleep is part of the job.

Reflecting on the last couple of nights, some realisations have occurred.  One - the expressed bottle is probably the wind culprit but two - I need to do something about the wind!  I don't want to entirely give up on the bottle just yet as it might be my ticket to some freedom.  We already do a strict winding regime before bed with baby massage so I think I have covered the natural methods.  So now we are going to try infacol.  I know lots of people it has worked a treat for so am hoping for similar results.  I have only given him two doses today before breastfeeds but already he has burped much better than usual and more often.

A little victory to celebrate today has been getting him to nap without using the dummy.  For all three naps, he has gone off without it.  Also, for one of the naps, I managed to put him down while he was sleepy but not complete asleep.  When he stirred I tried patting him - one hand patting his side rhythmically and the other hand resting on his chest.  This prevented him from waking up completely and after two or three goes, he had fallen more soundly asleep and I was able to leave him in his cot.

I have tried to nap a bit today, which has definitely helped my sanity!  Tonight, he was falling asleep at 5:30pm.  I let him have a nap but only for half an hour.  This has meant putting back bed time a little but is probably preferable to having an overtired child to deal with.  Who knows what tonight will bring, but this I am sure of: it is my job to help him to sleep and it is my responsibility to find creative ways of catching up on my own sleep.