Sleep regression. It’s apparently a real thing.
We almost ALMOST had the sleep thing down. Gibs was down by 7:30 PM and would have a wet diaper by about 10 or 11 PM. A quick little feed at the nip and then back to sleep. Another wet diaper at 2 AM and a full four oz bottle. Then we might get him to stay asleep until anywhere from 6 AM to 8 AM.
So naive. So silly and naive we were!
Just as we thought we had this sleep thing figured out. Just as I thought, sleep training is for the birds. Gibs is perfect and will regulate himself. Just when we started to relax… BAM sleep regression.
Now he flails and squirms in his sleep. Scratches his face, his scalp, his neck and wakes himself up. Pulls his hair. HE’S PULLING HIS HAIR, PEOPLE! Even if he doesn’t wake himself up completely and settles back down- now I am awake watching him breathe, heart in my throat that he’s going to have a seizure or something.
The worst part? THE WORST PART?! This is all normal. A normal part of Gibs’ development. Which means there’s not a lot of recourse. I could start swaddling him again, but he sweats at night as it is. Another layer to keep him from flailing, and I’ll probably just make him more uncomfortable ultimately making the squirming worse.
I write this up after a night during which I was up from 10:30 to midnight walking the house because Gibs had made himself wide awake. And of course, he was up again at 2 AM and 4 AM.
But that’s okay. These kinds of nights are EXACTLY what coffee was made for. If there is a God, He/She put that bean on this planet for parents. High-powered business people on Wall St. think they are the perfect receptacles of espresso. They are WRONG!
Every baby shower I go to from here on out, I’m gifting the parents-to-be with coffee supplies. BECAUSE I CARE!
Once I have the first couple of sips of coffee, I can remind myself of the important things.
#1 This is the job I signed up for. I wanted to be a mother desperately. Even though the nights are long, the payoff is huge. Gotta think long-term.
#2 Gibs will never again need me as much as he needs me right now. And this time in his life is so short. Suck it up, because these moments are the time to stand and deliver.
#3 There’s no crying in baseball. But there’s going to be crying in parenting. From both the parents and the child. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
#4 Sleep whenever you get the chance. Those dishes will be there tomorrow. Folding the clothes can wait. And Chinese take-out for dinner is not a cardinal sin.
#5 Something something, should really have a fifth item to round out this list, but I don’t because SLEEP DEPRIVATION! HA! We’re all mad here!
Just a reminder that it does happen occasionally.
Hungry For Motherhood 
Can we start a Sleep-Share program? We can take shifts.
THAT
SOUNDS
AMAZING!
I know about this all to well, enduring months of sleepless nights after the 4 month sleep regression tidal wave. It was a long process to get to where we are now, and by all means we still have night wake ups but I can get her to sleep usually within minutes. I don’t know how I’d do things differently or if I would have been able to do things differently back then, but I did do some training around the 10 month mark, but it certainly wasn’t CIO. I think you, as a mother, know your baby best and have to decide what he needs!
We’re trying to do some light sleep training. He lays down awake but sleepy. And when he wakes, we try to give him a chance to put himself back to sleep. And I’m trying to make sure he stays in his crib for most of the night. But I usually cave around midnight. I can’t do CIO either. There’s just no way. I’m just trying to remember that someday he will sleep through the night. Thanks for the pep talk!
For the first two years, Lily would get into a good sleep groove, and then it would get wrecked with every big milestone: sitting up, crawling, talking, walking, etc. It seemed like every time she learned something new, she fought sleep and just wanted to keep doing her new trick. But she always got back into champion sleep mode. My best advice is to try to stick to a routine.
We are trying to stick with a routine. Right now it’s a 6:30 bathtime and into bed by 7. He usually is asleep by 7:30. Wakes at 10 or 11 and again around 1 or 2, again at 4 and then up for the day between 6 and 8. But getting him to bed is a routine now.
Ugh. Sleep regressions…. they are horrible. I thought we were literally going to die of tiredness every time Tru has had a regression. It is hard to imagine at the time that things will ever get better, but of course, they do.
That is the thought I’m clinging to. It will get better. Thank you!