Nightime Scoring: Luke, 2 - Kara and Dave, 1
Let me start this blog by saying that Luke is a great, great baby. He's not a fussy little guy - only cries when he really needs something, eats well and on a regular schedule, takes long naps, and my personal favorite, loves to snuggle up on Dave and I.
Now, to be fair, these traits mostly apply during the hours of 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. As everyone knows, a new baby inevitably = total lack of sleep. But, for me at least, the biggest struggle hasn't been the lack of sleep, it has been the complete lack of a schedule at night - especially since our days are so smooth!
The first night we got home, Dave went to bed around 11 while I was feeding Luke. The plan was for me to come up after he was done eating, put him to bed in the cradle in our room, and sleep until his next feeding in the middle of the night. Sounds great right? Nope. I came upstairs, changed Luke's diaper, put him in the cradle, and he immediately started screaming. Not what you want!
So I came back downstairs and put him in his bouncy seat to sleep downstairs. Again, not happening. We went through several cycles of fussing, only sleeping when I was holding him, not sleeping, crying, dirty diapers, etc. Note that the only sleeping happened when I was holding him which means, I was NOT sleeping. I was super frustrated in the morning since I had just assumed that his great daytime schedule would carry though at night! But, since Dave was rested and rational, he let me take a nap and talked me down from thinking I would never sleep again!
So, we went into night two with a bit different plan. We all went up to bed together right after Luke had eaten. Dave was going to sleep in the room with us until Luke's first nighttime feeding, and then head to the couch for a good night's sleep - again under the theory that I would more or less have the night shift, and sleep during Luke's naps during the day while Dave handled everything else outside of feedings. But, Luke has a little wheeze when he sleeps, and Dave couldn't sleep with that, so went downstairs right away. I didn't sleep that well either since I was constantly listening to him breathe. However, I tried to be very open minded that night, and not expect a perfect schedule out of a 6 day old baby. So, mentally I was much better! But, the schedule was probably worse. Luke was SO fussy - I changed tons of dirty diapers, changed outfits to make sure he was not too hot or too cold, snuggled him, swaddled him, gave him pacifiers, etc. Nothing else was working - and he kept giving me his "hungry" cues (sticking his fingers in his mouth, knawing on his arm, etc.) so he ate probably every 45 minutes for several hours - exausting! This fun little phenomenon is apparently called "cluster feeding" as we learned from our pediatrician. So, to nix that in the bud we entered night 3 with a new plan.
Dave and I split the night last night, and it seemed to work really well. I went to bed around 10 or so and Dave woke me up when Luke was ready to eat around 11 and 2. I slept upstairs in between while he took care of Luke downstairs. Then I took over at the middle of the night feeding point and it worked out well because somebody decided he could actually sleep in his bouncy seat after eating! So now, we both had some solid hours of sleep, and will probably each get a nap in during the day. In fact, both boys (and Dexter) are napping right now. Poor Dex, his sleep schedule is all sorts of messed up as well!
So, hopefully our split the night plan will keep both of us semi-rested and semi-sane for the next few weeks until he can sleep longer stretches!
Now, to be fair, these traits mostly apply during the hours of 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. As everyone knows, a new baby inevitably = total lack of sleep. But, for me at least, the biggest struggle hasn't been the lack of sleep, it has been the complete lack of a schedule at night - especially since our days are so smooth!
The first night we got home, Dave went to bed around 11 while I was feeding Luke. The plan was for me to come up after he was done eating, put him to bed in the cradle in our room, and sleep until his next feeding in the middle of the night. Sounds great right? Nope. I came upstairs, changed Luke's diaper, put him in the cradle, and he immediately started screaming. Not what you want!
So I came back downstairs and put him in his bouncy seat to sleep downstairs. Again, not happening. We went through several cycles of fussing, only sleeping when I was holding him, not sleeping, crying, dirty diapers, etc. Note that the only sleeping happened when I was holding him which means, I was NOT sleeping. I was super frustrated in the morning since I had just assumed that his great daytime schedule would carry though at night! But, since Dave was rested and rational, he let me take a nap and talked me down from thinking I would never sleep again!
So, we went into night two with a bit different plan. We all went up to bed together right after Luke had eaten. Dave was going to sleep in the room with us until Luke's first nighttime feeding, and then head to the couch for a good night's sleep - again under the theory that I would more or less have the night shift, and sleep during Luke's naps during the day while Dave handled everything else outside of feedings. But, Luke has a little wheeze when he sleeps, and Dave couldn't sleep with that, so went downstairs right away. I didn't sleep that well either since I was constantly listening to him breathe. However, I tried to be very open minded that night, and not expect a perfect schedule out of a 6 day old baby. So, mentally I was much better! But, the schedule was probably worse. Luke was SO fussy - I changed tons of dirty diapers, changed outfits to make sure he was not too hot or too cold, snuggled him, swaddled him, gave him pacifiers, etc. Nothing else was working - and he kept giving me his "hungry" cues (sticking his fingers in his mouth, knawing on his arm, etc.) so he ate probably every 45 minutes for several hours - exausting! This fun little phenomenon is apparently called "cluster feeding" as we learned from our pediatrician. So, to nix that in the bud we entered night 3 with a new plan.
Dave and I split the night last night, and it seemed to work really well. I went to bed around 10 or so and Dave woke me up when Luke was ready to eat around 11 and 2. I slept upstairs in between while he took care of Luke downstairs. Then I took over at the middle of the night feeding point and it worked out well because somebody decided he could actually sleep in his bouncy seat after eating! So now, we both had some solid hours of sleep, and will probably each get a nap in during the day. In fact, both boys (and Dexter) are napping right now. Poor Dex, his sleep schedule is all sorts of messed up as well!
So, hopefully our split the night plan will keep both of us semi-rested and semi-sane for the next few weeks until he can sleep longer stretches!
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