Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Sleepless baby redux

Turner has definitely started following in the footsteps of his brother. When he was tiny and new, he was such a good sleeper, that I was certain we weren't going to have the problems we had with Guthrie. Even just a few weeks ago, he was taking 3 hour naps all by himself and sleeping for 2-3 hours, at least to start the night.

Now, though, I'm starting to get nervous. He has taken to waking up after 20 minutes for a nap unless someone is laying right there with him, and is waking up about a gazillion times every night.

Eric is convinced he is teething. I may try some Tylenol tonight before bed to see if it helps. I just don't want to keep him constantly on the Tylenol, but I really need him to have at least some short stretches of sleep where I can be a human being without holding him!

I have the No Cry Sleep Solution but those solutions certainly aren't for a baby with a toddler in the house as well. I can't just sit by the door and wait for him to stir, and then go in and lay back down with him until he goes back to sleep, and I sure can't do this every nap, every day, for an extended period of time. Not without Guthrie coming in to "help" or insisting at that moment that he needs a glass of soy milk.

Eric assured me that this will pass. And I know it will - it did with Guthrie. It just took 2 1/2 years for it to pass with Guthrie, and I have such a fear that it will with Turner too.

It's not that I'm sleep-deprived, because on that end I'm doing okay. It's that I'm ME-deprived. I need to have some time alone, or time alone with my husband, and I can't do that with a baby who refuses to sleep alone.

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