Sleepfighter
Despite her body's natural desire to rest, complete with red eyes and yawns and fading coordination from muscle fatigue, she will continue to roll around in a floppy daze, whining and drooling and sucking on her teether. She will demand to be entertained with a "change of scenery" every 5 minutes. "Yes, pick me up. Cuddle me! No, no, let me play in the playard. Whee! No, no, I want Mommy to cuddle me! Yay! No, no, let me jump around!! Jump, jump, whee! Wait, where's the mirror? I want to see me in the mirror, Mommy! Aww, cute baby! Smile, smile. Waa! I want to see cars! Oooh...look at the cars zooming by. No, no, no more cars! I wanna go on a touch tour! Touch, touch, touch." Waaa! You get the idea.
When Baby L began nursing to sleep, I thought I had it in the bag. Sure fire way to knock her out, right? WRONGY WRONG WRONG.
She will nurse. For 3 minutes. Then she'll begin to wiggle or roll around, followed by crying because she's tired and she didn't really want to end up on her tummy and she doesn't have the energy or coordination at the moment to roll onto her back again. Being the long-suffering mommy that I am, I will gently ease her back to her initial position and allow her to relatch. Repeat this cycle. Ten times.
Eventually, *if* she is fatigued enough, she will stay on the breast long enough to pass out. If not, I have had to resort to baby-wearing her around the home, or taking her out for a walk (actually, Hubbs does this most of the time), or giving her a bottle (she's still supplementing about 12 ounces/day).
Basically, there is no "guaranteed" way for Baby L to be lulled into slumber anymore. Add to that the fact that she's hostile to sleeping and napping anyway, and also rolling around constantly now, and you've got the world champion sleepfighter on your hands.
I'm starting to accept the fact that I simply don't have a sleeper on my hands. Instead, I have a sleep-deprived child who still manages to grin her way through most of the day, and grow, and hit milestones despite her lack of shut-eye. I read somewhere that babies her age are supposed to sleep for an average of 14 hours/day, with naps coming every 2 hours. NOPE. Try an average of 12 hours/day, with 20-40 minute naps only happening once every 4 hours or so.
But, complain as I will, I wouldn't trade her for any other child; she is truly a blessing in our lives, and we cannot imagine life without her. I'm thankful that, despite her sleepfighter tendencies and rest deficiency, she is healthy, happy, growing like a weed, and so very curious about her world. She eats regularly (though I'm a little worried that she hasn't gained as much in the past 2 months as she did in the preceding 4), she pees and poops on schedule, and she loves her Mommy and Daddy.
And I guess that's about as much as anyone can hope for. Well, that and a little more sleep ;)
Comments
I'm having the same problem with lack of attention to feeding. *Everything* is more interesting that a feed and he lets go, pulls, twists, and reattaches so often i've had 5 plugged ducts last month alone :( Hopefully they'll decide to eat properly very soon!
Thankfully she's still in like the 80th percentile.
@ Jel - Her hair just recently got darker, but it's actually not that thick. I think she's going to have her dad's hair rather than my stick-straight Asian locks. In the pictures it looks like it's thick but in person, she is still sufficiently bald that people mistake her for a little boy. :(
@ April - yeah, our nursing sessions turn into play-and-nurse sessions on the bed, lasting anywhere from 15 minutes on a good night to 2 hours on a bad one!