The Taynors

The Taynors

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Newest Sleep Adventure

I guess because Ryan is a bad sleeper, many of my blogs are going to be about sleep.  We were doing soooo good.  For at least 3 weeks, Ryan would go to bed around 7:30 and sleep til between 3-4 am and then go back to sleep until sometime between 6 and 8.  It was great.  I enjoyed that it was fairly predictable... I could get a few things done after he went to sleep, go to bed around 10 and know I would get a solid 5 hours of sleep before he woke for the first time.  But all of a sudden things have changed and we seem to have reverted back to the way he was at 6 weeks old.  Now he wakes up randomly, anytime from 9pm, 1am, or every hour all night long.  I do think he is going through a growth spurt, but this has lasted for the past 2 weeks.

And as if we were not having enough fun trying to get Ryan to sleep, we have been presented with another challenge.  Ryan was sleeping so well because he likes to be swaddled all tight with his arms in the swaddle.  Well as of 2 nights ago Ryan has figured out how to roll over from his back to his front when in his swaddle.  I guess because his arms are not out to stop him, he kind of log rolls onto his stomach.  The problem here is that he does not have the strength or the arms to push himself over so he ends ups with his face smashed against the mattress.  Luckily the two times this happened, he cryed hysterically to wake me up.  But now we can no longer swaddle his arms in for safety reasons. 

Sooo on top of his frequent wakings, we have to deal with a baby who can not settle himself to sleep.  Ryan is VERY restless to say the least and he is always waking himself up by flailing his arms and legs around.  Last night he woke up at 1 am.  I fed him and when he was drowsy I laid him back down.  He flailed his arms, legs, and head around for 2 hours!!!  Every time he was close to dowsing off, he would twitch his arms and wake himself back up.  By time he finally fell asleep, he only stayed asleep for about and hour before he woke up to eat again.  Then we had to repeat the whole long process of settling back to sleep again.  By time 8 am came around, I had only slept for 4 hours and I felt like a walking zombie.  I also feel so bad for my sweet boy because I can tell he is just exhausted but can't figure out how to let himself fall asleep. 

I have no idea how long this is going to continue, but I hope he learns how to sleep better soon.  Both mommy and baby desperatelly need things to get better so that we can be happier, healthier people. 

1 comment:

  1. I had similar difficulties with Emma. I ended up swaddling her still, but laying her on her side with a stuffed animal behind her and a small blanket rolled up and wedged in front of her belly. She liked it because it mimicked the way she felt when I laid down in the bed with her tucked between my side and my arm.

    Just a thought, if you want to try something different.

    Eventually she got strong enough to pull her arms out of the swaddle, but she's still accustomed to sleeping on her side :)

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