I often see little newborn babies at the store or on the street or at the pediatrician's office. I stare at them with a sense of wonder and amazement. I often think, 'I miss that stage. Newborns are so tiny and helpless.' Then I remember that newborns kind of suck. They sleep erratically, stay wake for hours in the middle of the night, and cry for no good reason. I look at my nine month old baby, and thank the lord that she isn't a newborn.
But just when I think I am past all of that crazy newborn shit, my nine month old starts acting like a jackass.
Porgie's sleeping patterns have gone into the crapper lately. For the past week, she has been waking up like clockwork at 1:30am and 5:30am. This is annoying enough, but she has also been waking up from her naps after only about 30 minutes. I am so frustrated, I want to scream.
Additionally, Porgie has been excessively fussy during the day (probably from the lack of sleep). She wants to be held nearly all of the time. She refuses to play with most of her toys. Even the Baby Einstein videos have lost their appeal. For the past few days, she has also been having a complete meltdown at bath time. She cries so hard, she gags herself.
Despite all of this, last night was the absolute worst night I have had in at least 7 months. The night started out innocently enough. We gave Porgie a bath (and she cried). Then, I read her a few books and feed her a big 8oz bottle. She was out like a light by 8:00pm.
John and I went to bed around 10:30pm. I was laying awake in bed, when I heard Porgie start to whimper. I could tell that she was still asleep, so I just listened. Suddenly the sleepy whimper turned into real screams. I went in her room and picked her up. She instantly calmed down and started sucking her thumb. I tried to lay her back down into the crib, but she started screaming again. So, I decided to bring her into our bed.
As soon as I put her down, she started screaming and crying. I didn't want to keep John awake, so I took her in the living room. I put her in her swing, which usually always puts her to sleep. Guess what? She screamed and cried and then screamed some more.
I took her back to the nursery and placed her in the crib. I figured that she was screaming and crying anyways, so why not do it in her own bed. She cried hysterically for 20 minutes. Finally, I went back in and picked her up. She continued crying until I turned on the light. I didn't know what to do with her cranky ass, so I read her a few more books. When she had calmed down, I took her back into our room. She rolled around and kicked the bed rail for hours. HOURS.
At 1:00 am, the entire house was still wide awake. Around this time, Porgie started crying again. John decided to get up and go to work - with NO SLEEP. Porgie continued crying and fussing. At about 2:00am, I tried feeding her another bottle. She refused it with great passion. I started having fantasies about leaving her on our neighbor's doorstep.
At 2:30am, I tried feeding her again. This time she drank about 2oz., but was still wide wake. I decided to place her back in the crib. After some off and on crying, she finally fell asleep around 3:00am. As you can imagine, I felt exhausted. I quickly drifted off to sleep.
At 6:45am, she woke up again. And she wouldn't go back to sleep. AGAIN. For the next 3 hours, she fussed and whined and was a general pain in the ass. At 10:00am, she finally settled down for a nap.
I feel totally depleted. When I start talking about wanting another baby, feel free to punch me in the face. Maybe it will knock some sense into my stupid ass.
14 comments:
hm...is she feeling ok? the reason why i ask is that mikaela has been doing the same thing lately and i got the clue a bit too late. my common sense took over and i finally got out the thermometer and took her temp. yep. she had a fever. then the coughing and sneezing started. i wish i'd caught it sooner...like before i got frustrated and short with her. :( i am just thinking that porgie may have been exposed to something at the swimming pool. i am not professing to be a doctor, but could it be her ears? it just doesn't seem like her to be a fussy mussy. i hope porgie is back to her sweet self very soon.
earache? Babies often start crying hard when they are put down flat because of the pressure in the ears. Teeth? Whatever the case, what an awful night you had! If I try geting AIden back without success, I usually end up giving him Tylenol assuming that he is in pain. Doesnt always make him sleep better but when the crying stops I know he feels better. I sure hope tonight is better!!!
Do you think she is going through separation anxiety? I remember those days of crankiness and wanting to be held CONSTANTLY.
The only thing that really got me through the bad days was 1) remembering that it is temporary and 2)my sister pointing out that they are human, too and have bad days just like we adults do.
Poor Porgie!
She's probably teething. Or yeah, earache. The whole no-sleep-thing sucks.
Yeah that sounds like a rough night on you! I hope tonight you'll get some more rest!
Ugh. I feel your pain!
Everyone,
Thanks for all of your suggestions. I just took Porgie to the doctor for her 9 month check up. Her ears are fine. She hasn't been sick or had a fever. Maybe its teething or maybe its just part of the 9 month sleep regression.
Last night we had a mini episode of the first. Porgie woke up at 1am and stayed awake for about an hour. Lots of crying.
Please excuse me, I am going to go take a nap.
Hoping you got some rest...
You poor dear. I'm so sorry! Eventually she will grow out of it. RIGHT??? Best of luck. Here's to sleep.
oy. your night sounds worse than mine (for which i thank you, but don't punch me). i think the whole daylight savings time thing threw O way off, and then there's something toothy going on in his little world too.
it's hard when you get used to them sleeping and then they go back to being screamers...but so much louder that nobody in the whole house can sleep!
happy nap, and i hope this ends soon.
Oh man, that's crappy. Baby E has been really clingy and fussy lately too (is it because they're 9 months??? starting to get sick???) but she hasn't been nearly that bad. Just more high maintenance during the day.
I visited my friend who has a 6-week old today. She told me how last night her baby slept well - a 5-hr stretch, then nursed, then slept another 2.5 hrs. And I thought, I can't do that again! in a weepy voice. Ha ha I'm obviously not ready for #2. I'm with you - newborns are adorable and all, but...eh. Not nearly as fun as giggly little roly-poly 9-month-olds!
I wish I could say something helpful or comforting, but as I'm not a mom, I don't think I can! All i can say is what my mom says/ used to say about my sister and me: "this phase will pass."
I so remember those days. In fact, I mentally prepare myself every night that K may wake up. It doesn't always work, though, and I end up a groggy mess.
I think it mainly happens when he's teething. Have you found anything poking through yet?
Also, how do you get Porgie to sit still while reading at bedtime? K is so antsy after his bath and wants his bottle NOW.
I'm looking for ideas as he gets older and we start weaning him off of the bedtime bottle (which probably won't happen anytime soon because I'm choosing my battles carefully-LOL).
S.,
I have been attempting to read to porgie since she was about 3 months old. I read 3 stories to her before every nap and at bedtime. It doesn't always go smoothly. Sometimes she starts fussing and crying - so we go straight to the bottle.
The key to getting her to sit still and listen is reading very repetitive books (the very busy spider, the very lonely firefly, the very quiet cricket, brown bear brwon bear what do you see?, polar bear polar bear what do you hear?, where is green sheep?, etc.).
If you start reading everyday, eventually he will learn to expect it (but you never know, all babies are different). I hope this helps. Good luck!
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