Just when I thought we were starting to get it together, everything fell apart this week. Olivia has never been a good sleeper. She’s always been more interested in, well, ANYTHING, than in sleeping. It’s just who she is. When I was working, I cherished those moments at midnight (and 10:00 and 2:00 and 4:00) when I would get up to nurse her and cuddle. I loved being able to bring her into bed with me and wake a few hours later with her warm little body snuggled up to mine. It was really the only time we got to spend together. I usually woke her 15 minutes before we needed to leave for day-care, and she went to bed as soon as I was home from work and she was fed. Those precious middle of the night moments were the extent of our bonding time.
But now that I spend all day with her, I want her bedtime to be her bedtime. When she was 11 months old, we tried decided to let her cry herself to sleep for a few nights in hope that she would start sleeping better. After only 3 nights, she was falling asleep on her own! It took only a few more weeks, and she was sleeping through the night. That was about a month ago, so this sudden deterioration of her sleep schedule has been a nightmare. I can’t believe I slept this little for almost a year and felt just fine. I’m a walking, nursery rhyme singing zombie!
So, back to this sleep regression: apparently, a baby’s development takes huge strides at certain times. 4 months, 8 months, 13 months, and 18 months are a few of the normal ones. These developmental milestones are so intense that they require the baby’s brain to go into overdrive, basically eliminating the need for sleep for a few days. Good for baby; bad for mom. What’s really funny about the 13 month regression it’s caused by her learning schedules and routines. So, now when I take her upstairs to put her jammies on, she’ll anticipate that we’ll go brush her teeth, read a book, and put her to bed. So she now knows when bedtime is coming, but can’t seem to sleep. How odd.
I guess it’s not that bad. Supposedly she’ll grow out of this in a week or two. I can survive on caffeine and willpower until then. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going take a nap.
Tags: baby, self-soothing, sleep regression, toddler
