Sleep Frustrations

Josh: Josh is almost a really great sleeper. Most nights he has his last meal by 8:30 (sometimes as early as 6 or so). Then he sleeps peacefully in his bassinet for about 5 hours. Some nights we don't hear from him until 1:30. He eats well at that time and then goes back down for another couple of hours. However, night after night after night, the hours between about 2 am and 5 am are ridiculously noisy. Josh does not cry and he does not open his eyes. But imagine every other sound a baby can make, and he's making it! It is impossible for us to sleep through this. Inevitably, I end up bringing him to sleep on me, which usually works for a bit, but not for too long, and it's not comfortable! Sometimes we end up sleeping in his rocking chair. Also not comfortable. I usually try to feed him when he “wakes” like this, but lately he hasn't even wanted to eat much. So I don't think he's hungry. He's just annoying! Then, like clockwork, at 5:00 he passes back out in his bassinet and sleeps peacefully for another hour or two. I don't get it! Hoping he figures this out before I go back to work in just over a week. We may switch to a bit of formula at night soon, so maybe that will help???

Layla: Layla recently transitioned to a toddler bed. She currently is sleeping in her old crib which we converted to a bed. We also picked up a toddler bed from some friends, since the crib will be Josh's at some point (how that might happen is for a whole other blog post!). Both beds are in her room now. We had to transition her because she was launching herself out of her crib at 5 in the morning on too many occasions. Now that she has freedom to move around in her room, we're experiencing a whole new set of unwanted behaviors. Ferber says this is not uncommon when the physical limits of the crib bars are removed. Now it's our job to set the limits. DOH! Everyone used to be so impressed at how easy it was for us to put Layla to bed. It could be done in a matter of seconds and she never hollered out for anything. Now she stalls until she can stall no more. Milk, stories, Mama, Dada, water, stories, Josh...you name it. And when we try to leave she tantrums and runs to the door screaming her head off. I did put a safety knob on the door, so at least she can't get out. There are nights that, when she finally does go down, she awakens in the night and repeats all of the requests and tantrums. So....we are getting better about setting limits. We have made it very clear...one book, brush teeth, one book, bed. However, she's 2 and doesn't completely get it. Since we've gotten strict and consistent she has been great. But every night when we put her down I feel like we're just crossing our fingers and hoping for the best. Oh, and did I mention that she's up at 5:30 almost daily (yesterday was 6:00, but today was 4:45!)?

Some day, when they're 7 and 5 or so, this will get better, right?