What do these things have in common? Well, I'll start with the sleepless nights. Since December Ava has not been sleeping through the night. This has been very distressing and exhausting. It all started with her illnesses and has continued on. Over the past couple months she has only slept through the night half a dozen times. When she was sick the only way she would sleep was if one of us was holding her and now when she fusses at night that is what she wants. I think her continued nighttime fussing is due to teething and separation anxiety. Ava got so use to us holding her and comforting her that now that is what she wants. Part of me wants to hold and cuddle her all night, but I can't because my body and sanity can't take it.
So, now to the bloody nose. The last couple nights I have been trying a new tactic to get Ava to sleep through the night and soothe herself. When Ava starts to fuss I let her for a little bit to see if she will drift back off to sleep. If she doesn't I turn off her light, lay her back down, and rub her back for a few minutes to calm her. I then leave the room and pray she will go back to sleep. So far this hasn't worked and I find myself back in her room a couple times during the night.
Last night Ava started fussing around 2am and after a little bit I got up and soothed her. I went back to bed and within a half hour she was fussing again. I got up, soothed her, and went back to bed. Within a half hour it started all over again. This pattern continued until about 6:30 this morning when I finally couldn't bare it anymore and I brought her to bed with me. Once in my bedroom and with some light I noticed Ava had some dried blood on her nose. So sometime during the night with all her fussing and anger she bumped her nose which caused it to bleed a little...man do I feel like a terrible mom!
After some snuggling and Tylenol Ava forgave me and drifted off to sleep. She slept well this morning and I had to wake her up, so she wouldn't sleep all day. Instead of waking up grumpy, she woke up with a smile and a panda. The first thing she does when she wakes up is grab her panda and say "panda, panda, panda." She will usually give him to me and then takes him back when I pick her up. Ava loves her panda and it makes her happy. As I laid her down for her morning nap she rolled over to her side snuggling her panda. Now if only the panda could offer some comfort and peace at night we would all be much happier.
2 comments:
Certainly do not feel bad. I am a much meaner mom. Ezra doesn't have the sleeping problems like Ava (he mostly starts crying because he has sat up or stood up in his sleep and can't figure out what to do to get back to sleep), but when he is grumpy we just let him cry it out. Not that we never go in, but it is for a very limited time and we never pull him out of his crib (except when he can't breathe and we go to the ER of course). We are just mean, what can we say, but it seems to work great. The first night or two it was hard to listen to him cry and I felt bad for our neighbors, but in the long run it has been the best for everyone. He gets himself back to sleep really quickly. Good luck and hang in there!
I know how you feel. Zoie woke up 3 or 4 times a night until she was 1. She even had a special blanket and it didn't help. I was a total zombie.
Since my kids have been known to cry until they vomit we had to try going in at increasingly longer intervals (after 5 min. of crying, then 10, then 15) and making no physical contact. It took about a week and I had to make Craig do it but it worked.
You're a great mom and I hope that she finds her way to start sleeping again.
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