Cedric's sleeping pattern turns upside down since 2 weeks ago when he started rolling over.
Many times at night, he struggles to roll over in his dream. Sometimes fall back asleep face down, which made me so worry of SIDS initially, and kept turning him back to sleep at his back; sometimes he wakes up just to find himself stuck at the tummy down position, and cries for my rescue.
The situation has been going down hill since.
He used to be able to sleep from 10pm for a 4-5 hour stretch, then had a 15 minutes feed around 2-3am, followed by one or two shorter 2-3 hours sessions, until he woke up around 8am.
Now, on a good night, he wakes up every 2-3 hourly to nurse. On a not so good night like yesterday, he wakes up almost every 30 minutes-1 hour, crying for attention.
I am not the biggest fan of the "cry it out" method of sleep training,
so usually I'll pick him up and feed him when he starts to 'ih ih ek ek'
and roll like a ball in his cot.
But after a few weeks of serious sleep deprivation, I feel like a walking zombie - I am totally wear out and exhausted!
I am wondering whether this is the so called 4-month sleep regression, a phase when babies who undergo tremendous cognitive and physical development start having trouble sleeping.
Some sleep training experts opine that baby's night waking is a bad habit that needs to be corrected, and baby wakes up in the middle of the night not because of hunger but to cuddle.
But my instinct tells me that baby Cedric is really hungry!
You see, my Cedric boy has been so busy exploring the fascinating world during the day that he is often too distracted to nurse properly. When I am feeding him, he is always on and off the breast, looking around, smiling at me, kepochi checking who's opening the door, what's the show on TV etc.
And his milk intake at babysitter's place has reduced significantly from 20oz to only 12oz!
I guess I am just not yet ready to start sleep training my baby boy. And I believe when he's ready to sleep through the night, I will get his cues.
So for now, I choose to "enjoy" my night duty, and take it as a date with my baby boy - an intimate moment with just the two of us.
And I hope tonight my boy and I will have a more relaxing date, so that both of us can have some rest.
OK my dear baby boy?
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| I am very sleepy mommy.... |
