The Daily Log of Heather Spohr
1:00 AM – Go to bed.
3:00 AM – Get baby back to sleep.
3:12 AM – Get baby back to sleep.
3:30 AM – Give up, bring the baby to bed and give her a bottle.
3:31 AM – Fall asleep giving the baby a bottle.
4:30 AM – Wake up soaked in formula, roll over, too tired to care.
6:13 AM – Mike’s alarm goes off. Pray baby doesn’t hear it.
7:15 AM – Say goodbye to Mike, collapse back into bed.
8:01 AM – Annie wakes up and WANTS TO PLAY RIGHT NOW OMG!
9: 15 AM – Feed Annie breakfast. End up wearing most of it.
10:30 AM – Try to get Annabel down for a morning nap. Fail.
11:45 AM – Annie finally sleeps. Use the bathroom and take off oatmeal-covered shirt.
11:59 AM – Annie wakes up and WANTS TO PLAY RIGHT NOW OMG!
12:00 PM to 2:00 PM – Listen to Annabel test her vocal cords. Consider ear plugs.
2:15 PM – Remember to eat. So what if it’s baby food?
2:45 PM – Annie finally sleeps. Manage to check email.
2:59 PM – Annie wakes up and WANTS TO PLAY RIGHT NOW OMG!
3:00 PM – Watch Oprah. Obviously.
4:00 PM – Rigby barks indignantly. Realize you haven’t fed her, then try not to gag at how badly her food smells.
4:30 PM – Wonder if Annie is some kind of robot or alien that doesn’t need sleep.
4:35 PM – Answer emails while also taking a conference call while also eating pretzels while the baby climbs me like a jungle gym. Manage to not scream when Annie yanks on my temple hair.
5:45 PM – Process photos while Annie plays in her jumper.
6:01 PM – Try to write with one hand while Annie bites on the fingers of my other hand.
6:40 PM – Mike comes home! Rejoice!
6:45 PM – 7:45 PM – Eat dinner while writing three posts while answering emails while uploading photos while tweeting while skyping while texting. Get totally confused and say the F word to my mom on the phone. Wonder when I even got ON the phone.
7:45 PM – PLAY WITH ANNIE RIGHT NOW OMG!
7:46 – 8:40 PM – Try to figure out what Annie wants. She doesn’t want to play on the floor. She doesn’t want to swing. She doesn’t want to jump. She doesn’t want to bounce. She doesn’t want to eat. She doesn’t want to sleep. She doesn’t want to be held. She doesn’t want to not be held. SHE IS A COMPLICATED WOMAN.
8:45 PM – Annie falls asleep in a very twisty position in my lap while clinging to my right hand. Fear moving her.
8:46 – 10:00 PM – Type with my left hand. Curse being right handed.
10:05 PM – Finally get Annie in bed.
10:10 PM – Start retyping everything my left hand typed.
12: 45 AM – Wake up on the couch with my laptop on my stomach. Consider taking a shower. Laugh.
1:00 AM – Fall into bed.
InDueTime says:
LOL Poor Heather. Hang in there! xo
Kate @ UpsideBackwards says:
You know what’s scary? One day you’ll look back and realise these are the *easy* days… Got to laugh, though, right? …um, right?
Katrina says:
Yep, that sounds about right. Life with an infant….oh, how I miss it! I really do! My “baby” is two already ::: sigh :::
And I agree with the commenter above — these truly are the “easy” days. Hard to believe… know. But true!
Jenn says:
WOW!!!! That is one energetic little baby girl!!!! No wonder you look so good & fit!!! Good to hear you were laughing. Laughing is good and you deserve to LAUGH YOUR ASS OFF SWEETIE!!!!
Take Care!
Jenn xo
Sarah says:
Those 15 minute naps are a killer! I actually think that’s one of the hardest things to cope with. Toddlers are easy in comparison! Have you tried any self-settling strategies? When kids learn to put themselves to sleep they usually nap better because they can resettle themselves between sleep cycles.
karen says:
I need a nap from just reading that. Oh you must be exhausted. And then she’ll start walking… but.. maybe that will tucker her out and she’ll sleep.
Expat Mom says:
Oh, I remember those days. My oldest son would wake up every FIFTEEN minutes all night long. Until he was one. When he slept for a solid 30 minutes, we rejoiced and felt like we’d slept for hours. Hang in there. Might I recommend taking up Mike’s Diet Coke habit?
SleepyMom says:
Goodnesss, I really hope your everyday doesn’t include that little sleep, because I’ve been there and that’s a recipe for permanently losing all the brain cells responsible for memory!
My kids always went down for naps more easily if I did them earlier (like with an 8am wakeup, a 9:30 or 10am nap). If I did the nap too late it was super short. And is there anything worse than the 15 or 20 minute nap – it’s just a mean tease.
Good luck getting more sleep for both of you – the first year is so tough that way!
Oh, and if my husband had an alarm that was going to go off at 6:15am, I’m pretty sure I’d make him sleep in another room. You are a very nice wife.
Stephannie says:
I think it would be easier on everybody if you went to bed a weeeeeeee bit early…1 a.m. seems sooo late – especially if Annie’s up starting at 3 a.m. – woah!
eliza says:
I hope this isn’t totally accurate! You’d be a walking zombie. I have to disagree that these are the “easy” days. To me, it gets easier every day, week, month. I have two four year olds and a nine year old. Maybe I will change my tune in the teens but it’s definitely easier by a mile than 0 to 18 mos. Get some rest lady!
Katie in WI says:
My favorite part of your day: “Get totally confused and say the F word to my mom…”
Jenny says:
The alternate title of this post could be “birth control”. I forgot about some of those moments. How could I forget not fully sleeping for a year??
Meredith says:
I swear I am raising a couple of vampires. No sleep will really mess with you. And I saw you in real life, and you look like you have it all together. So YAY for that!
tonya says:
As we like to say here in the south, well bless your heart!!! I laughed until I snorted at the image of you dropping the F bomb on your mom. Oops! I have two girls, and one of them kept a very similar schedule to the one you just described, and I’m still traumatized by it! And I know this won’t offend you, but I believe there’s a word to describe these babies. Spoiled. I look back at the way my babies ruled this house and I chuckle. Good times! Annie is absolutely delicious, and you are the BEST little mama. Your family remains in my prayers daily. xoxo
Katie says:
Tee-hee. I’m sorry to laugh, but that sounds EXACTLY like my oldest son when he was an infant. He always took 20 minute naps! All the other Moms had babies that took like 2-3 hour naps and I got 20 minutes!!! I was a basketcase!!!
Hang in there, Mama. It gets better. He is now a high energy preschooler who never ever naps… but does sleep through the night.
Aisha Q says:
I never thought 5-15 minutes is all you need to get a “good nights sleep”, this was offcourse before I had a baby. My daughter is 3, I still don’t have time to do anything, but play with her RIGHT NOW OMG! lol
Debbie S. says:
My baby is 21, and I still remember those days! I’m going BACK to bed after reading about your day….I’m EXHAUSTED!!
Ann says:
My son is doing the same thing right now! I have a 9-month old newborn up every two to three hours during the night and NOT NAPPING more than 20 minutes during the day!
Suzanne says:
I snorted with laughter at the commenters who think this might not be totally accurate. The only parts that might be made up are where you ate something and didn’t scream at the hair-pulling.
This too shall pass.
Jen L. says:
How do babies do it? My son was just like that. It’s like the just don’t need sleep! I wishI had 1/3 of that energy!
Sarah says:
My baby is 21 months old and still up at least once during the night..I feel your pain!! I hear that one day they sleep through the night..here’s hoping
Lisa says:
Wow, I’m exhausting just reading that. I think I need to go back to bed now!!
Trisha Vargas says:
and rinse and repeat and rinse and repeat!! I feel your pain. It does get better, I promise!!
(((HUGS))) from Florida
catherine lucas says:
I really wonder why moms these days take all that crap from their small babies… What happened to the “and now you go to bed and take a nap, if you don’t want to sleep, that’s fine, think a little bit about life then, but you stay in here till I come and get you”. Lights out, night light on and door closed. I so feel for the young moms now who think that their kid can not take a no out of fear for future trauma. One of the previous posters says spoiled, I so agree…. A baby should not determine her mom’s schedule, it should be the other way around. Why do present day moms accept the babies ruling the roost? And what for god sakes is wrong with a baby crying for a couple of minutes… The bad side of the baby phones and listeners and all those other electronic things is that moms hear when the baby breaths and go in. When our babies were small, the door was closed and yes, they did wake up, but as another poster says, they had the time to self settle…
We are creating bad sleepers with the power of dominating day or night for the parents… I think that we need to go back to at least a little bit of boundaries and rules. That is after all what parenting is about: trying to raise and guide kids and learn them how to live with other humans in one house… I think that all that co-sleeping and bonding and anti-autoritary stuff just makes for cranky babies who are over tired and don’t sleep because they are too tired to sleep…
Dear Heather, don’t do that to yourself. If Annabel would be in a creche, she would have to sleep with the others and would probably not have a nurse or carer ready to play with her whenever she wants… How do we teach our babies and kids to be social and empathic if we never say no to them and let them do all they want. Real life is not doing all we want. We all have to live according to some rules. I often wonder where in some 20 years from now all those babies who are so used to get their way will find a date… because the date will also have been raised to get whatever he or she wants on the first token, how will we teach our kids to take in account other people living under the same roof?????
What happened to common sense???? OK, you can all kick me now…
I will go and find shelter… I bet I will get all the co-sleepers and breastfeeding till they are 12 on my back now… That’s OK. I just want to plead for some common sense here… for all you young moms going through life exhausted from having a baby… It’s exhausting enough as it is without you all catering to each little wimp the babies make… I vote for sleeping babies, sleeping moms and happy families.
Katie says:
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Katie says:
That was supposed to say *snort*.
Neeroc says:
Was the baby typing for you? *g*
nona says:
I don’t know if you are right or wrong, or in between. I don’t have any kids of my own, but I am in the child care profession, so I’m not completely ignorant about the ways of infants/children.
Within the opinion that babies being born and raised in the present generation will have problems in life because their parents responded quickly to their cries, one can infer that parents are accountable for the way their kids turn out. I don’t disagree with that at all. The thing is, the parents of today, were once kids themselves. If the parents of today are doing things “wrong,” who was it that influenced the way THEY turned out? THEIR parents. The ones who, in your argument, were doing things the ideal way.
Deborah says:
Dear Heather,
Please consider rethinking your schedule. Catherine Lucas, you are so very right! My children are 30 and 35, and they were raised in the era of “set the timer and let them cry it out for 15 minutes.” It was hard. But…I feel justified at this point to give advice. My children are now extremely successful, loving, generous, and well-adjusted adults~and my husband and I are very close to them. On another note, little ones NEED their sleep to do well in school. Please remember that component when you are catering to baby’s whims.
Jen says:
4:30 PM – Wonder if Annie is some kind of robot or alien that doesn’t need sleep.
LOL!!!! I’ve thought this so many times about my daughter Chloe (10.5 months old). Totally hilarious post Heather. Thanks for the AM giggle.
Jen
Carrie says:
This was my life with my first child. It’s rough! All my friends told me to put my son on a schedule, but it was so had for me to listen to him SCREAM whenever I tried to get Jim to do something that he didn’t want to do. I usually gave in to him. By the time I had my second child, my son was still running our house ( going to bed at 1… Or later. And this was after me laying in bed for hours trying to get him to sleep) It was out of control!! I felt so guilty just letting him cry tho! One day my sister talked with me and told me about her kids and how they are on a tight schedule, and how if you stick to it, it can be a life saver. She told me to try one for 5 days ( those would be the thoughea, but each day would get easier… And better!) I tried it, and we have never looked back. Please Heather, get that precious girl on a schedule. My kids are in bed at 9pm and they sleep until 8am! Think of all that you could get done at night! They are a bit older, so they are on one nap. I know it’s though listening to your baby cry for you but this can be better! I was in this same situation, and it is so much better when you can plan your phone calls around naps and bedtime!
Elizabeth says:
I just got tired reading that list!
Jessa says:
It does get better. What a day!
Rebecca says:
When you can’t figure out what’s wrong with her or what she wants, it’s always shopping. She would rather go to nice little shops on Rodeo Drive or whatever all the in crowd is hanging these days but will settle for online shopping in a pinch.
Alison says:
Spoiled kids aren’t made from “spoiled” babies. A 6 month old who does her own thing can’t be compared to a 6 year old without boundaries. But I merely study these things, so what do I know?
Annie, just like her sister, is an active little girl with strong opinions. You are a strong and capable mommy. This schedule reminds me of a little girl I know, who is the WORLD’S LIGHTEST SLEEPER. They always grow out of this insanity.
xoxo
Mary @ Holy Mackerel says:
I remember those days VERY well, and I’m kinda glad I don’t have them anymore. But I also miss them.
ldoo says:
Bless. Your. Heart.
My babies were horrible sleepers too. I can’t stress this enough: Go to http://www.babysleepsite.com (no affiliation). For $40 you can pay a sleep expert to e-mail a couple of times back and forth with you and tell you in detail how to handle Annie’s sleep problems.
I did that for both babies, and it saved us! Sometimes we just need to learn a bit more about baby sleep in order to help teach our babies to sleep.
Annie should be getting 10-12 hours at night and 3-4 hours during the day.
Another option, which I also used with a ton of success with my 5 month old, is to buy the Ferber book – Solve Your Child’s Sleep Problems. I actually got it for $14 as an eBook from Borders.
Anyway, it is very detailed and tells you why your baby does these things and exactly how you can stop it. But, you have to be willing to let her cry – with you comforting her, of course.
Good luck!
Heather S says:
This makes me chuckle. When I quit work to stay home with my babies, everyone always asks me what I “do” all day. Ummmmm I take care of a baby. It’s exhausting work. It’s impossible to work from home, especially with a baby who doesn’t nap regularly! Hang in there, it will get better.
Stephanie says:
I may just be spoiled, but this to me sounds awful! Maybe you should try the 2, 3, 4 nap method. Put her down to sleep two hours after she wakes up in the morning (and I know it’s hard, but letting her cry for a couple minutes won’t hurt). When she wakes up from that nap, keep her awake for three hours and then put her down. Four hours after that, it’s time for bed. Sounds like she need to go to bed earlier too. I know it doesn’t make sense, but when babies aren’t sleeping through the night, it’s often because they’re going to bed too late, not too early.
Anyway, it worked for my baby. But then again, it sounds like I’m the one who’s spoiled.
Hang in there. And I echo those who say YOU might want to go to bed a teensy bit earlier.
Trisha says:
Sounds all too familiar! My daughter is 8 months and used to sleep like that. Have you considered she might be over tired?? I’m no expert & not really one to be giving parenting advice as I am new to this, but we just went through a massive schedual shift & it has helped SO much. I read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child and while I don’t advocate or use CIO (which the author clearly suggests) it helped me understand how much & when my daughter needs sleep. Now she’s a good sleeper, not great, but at least she doesn’t kick & claw me when I’m putting her down .
Star says:
My daughter was the exact same way…but colic…after getting her formula switched so she would be happy, I finally learned that I would just have to let her self soothe herself if I ever wanted to get some sleep. Some people made comments on how I could let her cry herself to sleep and during the night, but the thing is I knew she didn’t need anything. She was fed, changed, and just wanted me…but if I wanted to ever get some sleep it was the thing that needed to be done. It was hard, don’t get me wrong. The first few nights were about an hour of crying, but let me tell you after about a week my 5-6 month old baby was sleeping from 11pm to about 6 or 7am…and that was AMAZING!!! I found it funny because it was those same people that criticized me for my tactics that were now awing at the sleep I got each night! Good Luck and I hope you find something that works for the both of you to get a bit more shut eye
Another Heather says:
OMG Heather! I’m totally laughing, but all I can think is, “Go to bed! Right there, between 10:05 and 10:10!” If you do it even twice a week, I bet you’ll feel better! The re-typing can wait.
alimartell says:
I call shenanigans. There’s no way you are in bed by 1am. I don’t believe it. heh.
Jennifer Dawn says:
This is too funny! And sadly, so accurate! My 6mo old used to sleep soundly through the night for four months. Then suddenly the last few weeks have been Lack of Sleep HELL. I hope it’s just a phase, but it’s definitely rough.
Inna says:
This is seriously hilarious!!! How do these little people manage to make our lives SO chaotic!! Sometimes i am totally scared of my kids, can’t show it though of course, but inside – pure terror! they say it gets better…..I am full of hope and still waiting.
amanda says:
This makes me tired reading it – probably because my life is similar. : )
Stella says:
Oh, Heather!! Our baby boy is about the same age as Annie, and this is totally what my day looks like, too. Down to the bedtime and the three AM wake up~
We definitely have the pre-bedtime hour (or two or three) of “What do you want?? Mommy’s happy to be here with you, but I have no idea what you want!” You hold ’em, they squirm. You set ’em down, they shriek. You give them toys, they throw them and start crying. You pick them back up, and they flail and pull your hair. You go away for 2 seconds and they act like you’ve stabbed them.
Our love for our kids must be insane, because if anyone else treated me like this, I’d slap them and walk away, hahaha.
Snarky Mommy says:
Seriously — 7:46 p.m.? That right there is my whole day right now. I want to just pass the baby a note with a checkbox: Do you like me? Yes or no. It would be easier.
Not to mention I am currently parenting three children in a two-bedroom Residence Inn all alone all day. This “vacation” to go spend time with Daddy where his consulting project is, yeah that was a stupid idea.
Katie says:
oh honey! i have a five month old who was kicking my ass in the middle of the night, until my mother said to me: STOP FEEDING HER. i said – butshe’sHUNGRYmiddleofthenightSMALLTUMMY. NONSENSE said my all knowing mother. SHE’s JUST GOT USED TO IT.
i hate how mother is right….
so now i feed her at 11pm at the latest, and she sleeps until 7. sometimes 8… (only sometimes).
but i’m with you on the rest of it. shower? what shower?
Neeroc says:
Awww…I miss those days. And I too had the non-sleeping baby, who attempted every non-sleeping baby record out there, she may have even invented a few, and I still wish I could do it again. And here’s the weird thing, I can’t go to bed any earlier now, even though she still wakes up at 5:30 or so, I don’t hit the hay before 1. She broke my brain.
Heather says:
Oh girl I can relate. Except I’m not as famous as you so there isn’t as much email, texting, tweeting, etc…but the F word to my mom is definitely a similarity. I have a 9 week old and almost 2 year old. Insanity. Chaos. Fun.
AmazingGreis says:
You are one very busy mama!
Pattie says:
LOL Thanks for the glimpse into my not-so-distant future.
Colleen says:
Heather, if Annie is falling asleep in your lap at 8:00, she should be in bed. Don’t let her sleep in your lap for 1 1/2 hours or you will have a cat napper. PUT HER TO BED. If you get on some kind on schedule, you will be much happier.
Poppy says:
I agree! My son kicked my butt for the first year of his life when it came to sleep. Finally he caught on. When the twins arrived I was determined I would get them on a schedule from the 2nd week on.
I would put them in their crib when I thought it should be nap/bed time. No falling asleep eating or on my lap. No rocking, swinging! I wanted them to learn to go to sleep on their own and they did. No crying, and later on if they did it was a few wimpers. Sure, when they were little they woke us every 2 hours like clock work for feeding but in time they came to sleep through the night.
I cut out the soothers at around a month. I was NOT going to spend the next 9 months having them wake me when they lost theirs in the night. Learnt that the HARD way, in the dark, ass in the air under the crib with son!!
They went to bed at 7.30 (so did son It was glorious! I had time for ME and my hobbies. Of course they got up about 6 am but that was fine as I knew in the afternoon we would ALL go down for a nap
Schedules rock. Find one that works for you and Annie and go for it! BTW I bought the Ferber book when son was just one. Gave me all the goodies about how to do it next time around. He probably saved my sanity!
All the best!
Katherine says:
OMG. This sleep deprivation sounds awful. Unless you are okay with it?
Please, if you aren’t, go find a sleep plan that works for you. I’m sure people have a lot of suggestions, but it is not unreasonable for most babies Annie’s age (unless there are medical issues, etc.) to sleep 11-12 hours STRAIGHT at night as well as 2 naps totaling 3-4 hours. If you want to sleep, Annie needs to learn to put herself to sleep, and it’s just one ugly week is all. She’ll catch on.
This one worked well for us, but a lot of them are variations on the same:
http://sleepyplanet.com/ (Just get the book; it’s an easy read even if you’re exhausted.)
Get yourself some rest!
Nikki says:
As a “night owl” myself, I know (for me at least) it’s impossible to fall asleep before Midnight. I have been this way MY WHOLE LIFE. Even as an infant. That said, once I’m asleep, I’m good for at least 8 hours. I don’t think most “normal” sleepers understand that it’s not always something you can control. In any case, I don’t envy you girl, but I wish you the best of luck!
Mary says:
You. Are. Hilarious. And it is ALL too familiar. As for the what to do, I truly think you go with your instinct. And don’t beat yourself up for not doing like others do, or not having Annie asleep by 7:30 when your friends can all get their babies to do that.
Amanda says:
You are an amazing mommie… I just want to come over and let you get a nap! You must be doing something right when that sweet lil lady doesn’t want to do anything but be awake so she can spend more time with you
Don’t let any of these comments bother you, each kid is different, and you’ll find your way the best way it is for you. You are doing a TERRIFIC job!
Cassie says:
Aww mama, I feel for you! It’s so so tough fitting it all in to one day! especially with those god forsaken cat naps. My son is just a couple weeks younger then Annie (who’s adorable, delicious chub makes me green with envy seeing as my LO is a scrawn-ball!) and we keep a pretty similar schedule! But for us it always seems like his schedule is always rotating, and it seems like Annie is the same. Isn’t it the worst when they have a totally blissful week where they nap/sleep great and are the happiest sweetest babies and then WHAM they switch it up to 11 minute cat naps twice a day!?
And, you know, I just started blogging to and it seems like trying to find the time to post everyday always adds a little extra angst to my routine!
Gotta love it!!!!!
-babymakestwo.og
P.S I typed this whole thing with my left hand b/c baby is tentatively sleeping on my right! Ahh the beauty of motherhood!
Hannah says:
Oh, I remember this stage. I remember feeling like I was in a walking nightmare all day, because both my daughter and I were completely exhausted around the clock. When they’re overtired their little adrenaline systems kick in and they have an even harder time getting to sleep. I, too, am going to push the Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child book. We started it when my daugher was four months old. I liked it because there were CIO and No Cry options for getting your little one to sleep. Success after one week, and my daughter is a seriously strong-willed girly. After that her bedtime was 6:00pm (!) and she slept ’til 7am for the first year, plus 3 hours of daytime sleep. After that we pushed the bedtime back to 6:30pm. Two years later she still needs a lot of sleep, which is awesome because I love those 3 hour naps.
I truly hope things get better soon! Hang in there!
Elle says:
I thought the first year was bad. My daughter is 16 months and all day it’s “I want attention, No I don’t”. “I want to be held, No I want to walk”. “I’m hungry, Nope not anymore”. I think she’s already starting PMS.
I hope you get some sleep…soon!
Lisa says:
Heather, you are awesome! Love the F-bomb story… hilarious. And I think you can’t “spoil” a precious little 6-month-old! Annie needs all those hugs and kisses that you can’t help but give her anyway!
What’s that? You want MORE advice? Well, okay then!
I have to echo the posters who mentioned the book “Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child.” I can’t recommend this strongly enough – you can click over to amazon right now and get it. A friend pushed it on me with my first child, and I’ve used it now for two kids – it’s MAGIC. My daughter, at 6 months old, went from doing exactly what Annie is doing now, to sleeping 12 hours a night and taking two 2-hour naps a day.
It took a week. I swear. A week.
I never realized that the problem was that she was so exhausted, she couldn’t get herself to sleep! It explained all the crying that magically disappeared once I used the magic book. And even though my son had colic, once he hit 3 months and I was able to use the magic book, he started napping like a pro and now sleeps from 8:30 or 9 p.m. until 7 a.m. every single night. He is 4 months old.
Are you ready to cry at how lucky I am? It’s not luck… it’s the magic book. Imagine how happy you and Mike would be to be able to get some quiet evenings together… and how happy you’d be to sleep at 3 a.m…. and that can happen right now!
Also… I think it gets easier, too, not harder as another poster wrote. But it’s different for everyone, of course. Good luck, Heather!!! You’re doing great!
Ray says:
You are Super Woman! =P
“6:45 PM – 7:45 PM – Eat dinner while writing three posts while answering emails while uploading photos while tweeting while skyping while texting. Get totally confused and say the F word to my mom on the phone. Wonder when I even got ON the phone.”
That’s multi-tasking right there!
J+1 says:
Reading this late, but laughing my butt off– because this could be my life. Except my six week old doesn’t want to play. I’m not entirely sure WHAT she wants, to be honest. But it is NOT to sleep… ever. Well, she sleeps at night. But a newborn who goes all day without a nap? WHY ME?
Kirsten says:
Heather, I remember this too well from my first child (who did not sleep a single 4 hour stretch until she was 18 months old). To those with adult children all I can say is don’t judge because children today are very different from children even 10 years ago. Talk to teachers if you don’t believe me. One thing that did help with my second child was to get her back to bed in the morning within an hour of waking up. A friend told me to try it, I was incredulous but tried it to humer her. It was the thing that turned everything around for us. I hope you get some rest soon!
MelissaG says:
I PROMISE I’m not saying this from a judgmental place AT ALL…not even a little bit. But if you ever care to, glance through this book http://www.amazon.com/Healthy-Sleep-Habits-Happy-Child/dp/0345486455/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1282276039&sr=8-1 I never followed any book extensively but it does give some WONDERFUL insight to how much sleep a baby needs and what signs to look for. I have 3 boys and I still refer back to it…somehow the sleep thing never gets easier for me and I always need help. Once I finally get things in some kind of a routine (I’m a night-owl and very non-routine unfortunately) my life is SO much better. I love my children but the quiet time is good for me and them. Seriously, the better they sleep, the better they sleep.
Okay, please don’t be mad for this unsolicited advice!
MelissaG says:
I didn’t read ANY comments at all until the last one came in. I’m really sorry for being redundant and I hope I wasn’t being rude at all. I promise, I have been there and was just trying to share a bit of info that helped me.
Funsize says:
you sound like you’ve been watching me through a window.
xo
Noelle says:
Not that I would wish a non-sleeper on anyone…but OMG I am so glad to know I wasn’t the only one who birthed an alien baby that never needed sleep!
Kelly says:
We are in the process of giving up afternoon naps in prep for preschool. Around 4 to 5 PM, a total meltdown begins….making me want to never send my child to school. After we get over meltdown mode, the second wind ensues and it’s pure hell getting the child in bed.
Thanks for the laugh today, I needed a reminder of the babyhood sleep schedule…
Pam Brown says:
Sounds excruciating for you and I can’t imagine how horrible so little sleep feels for her. My daughter was pretty disorganized as an infant too. By eight or nine months she worked it out with my help. It was an amazing transformation for the whole family when she started sleeping more regularly. I hope you guys get there soon. Until then, hang in there and keep up the good attitude!
andra says:
Good luck.. thanks a lot