Sleepy Musings

Note: I've been trying to get this post up for more than 24 hours, but the last couple of days were bumpy in the sleep department.

It's so hard being a baby. I know I say that often, usually in a mocking manner , but it really must be frustrating for the Blueberry not to effectively be able to convey his needs and wants. Simple things like "I'm hungry" or "I'm sleepy" would be so much easier on both the baby and his parents if they only could be verbalized. Yes, I know there are baby cues--my husband insists he can recognize the "low" cry of hunger, but so much of the figuring out what a certain baby behavior means is dependent upon getting a consistent result (i.e. happy baby) from our responses. When the Blueberry cluster-feeds or otherwise deviates from the "normal" schedule, my confidence that we've figured him out, even a little, flags.

I guess it began on Tuesday when the Blueberry skipped his morning nap. Actually, I rather think of it as the third leg of his night's sleep rather than a nap. Typically, he goes to bed shortly before or when we do--somewhere between 9:30 and 11:00 p.m. Then he wakes up to eat around 2:00-3:00 a.m. and will sleep until 6:00-7:00 a.m. and eat again. Finally, there's one last nap until 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. Other than the middle of the night feeding, which isn't so bad when it's brief, this schedule works great for us.

On Tuesday, the Blueberry skipped that last nap which meant so did I. Not a tragedy, especially since I often putter about instead of sleep but it was the start of an odd few days.

Wednesday seemed rather routine, except for longer naps. He added about 30 minutes to an hour to each nap. I barely noticed, other than that our afternoon walk was a bit later than usual.

Then came Thursday.

Thursday, Thursday, Thursday.

What a day.

It actually doesn't seem that bad now that we're back to "normal," but it wasn't fun. As I indicated, Wednesday was ordinary except for the longer naps. Apparently they added up. On Wednesday evening, the Blueberry went to bed at the usual time and woke up at the usual time to eat...they STAYED up! He wasn't particularly cranky, just awake even though he knew it was sleepy time. He tried to go down, but couldn't. As a result, he and his mommy were or less awake from 3:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. when he finally took a longer nap. During those 12 hours, he slept for 20 minutes here, maybe 40 minutes there, usually only in our arms.

These shots are from the evening, but you get the idea.

He also did what he hadn't done in quite a few weeks--wake up the second he was put down. He also would not nap in his bassinet, despite having done that successfully for several weeks. Throw in a whole lot of cluster feeding (about 5 hours worth which was probably more for comfort than hunger) had me doubting everything from the sleep schedule I thought we'd developed, to where he slept, what he slept in, and how he ate. It seemed as though I'd imagined "normal."

Finally, I guess it hit him and he managed to nap where he had never slept before:

Now it feels like a distant memory as we're back to "normal." For the moment, anyway. I'm sure they'll be more days like this and even stranger days to come.

You've got that right, Mom!

Cute, happy baby!