Monday 16 March 2009

Remember sleep?

My current obsession is sleep. I’m sleep deprived as only a parent can be. Over the last three months we’ve had six teeth cut through, a bout of vomiting bug, two colds and a chest infection. All of which seem to require all night breastfeeding to soothe. Which might be more manageable was I not six months pregnant, but hey, it’s all fun and games. Well actually the crazy pixie appears to think so. It is very difficult to convince a happily adventuring baby that 3 in the morning in a very unsociable hour for shrieking at the cats or chasing mummy to the bathroom.

Tonight the puzzle gets more complex; she’s fed, appears well, went to sleep at her bedtime, had her nap today and yet has woken every 20 minutes since going down. She’s obviously distressed and we can’t figure out why – not being able to understand her needs is so difficult……I can only imagine how frustrating it must be for her.

Now there are those who say a night or so of crying it out will sort the problem, but that’s not the parenting path we’ve chosen. ‘Trust is more important than sleep’ is my mantra which, I admit, does occasionally ring hollow after another bleary eyed night. Venting does help (thank you blogosphere, and very patient friends), and at least himself is superbly supportive and appreciative of my efforts.

And as for tomorrow morning………….well, she’ll be bright as a button and raring to go as she attempts to drag mummy out of bed by the ears. That’s my girl……..

3 comments:

mammydiaries said...

2 virtual bottles of wine, a box of roses (real) and a good night's sleep! Sending you the sleep fairy for your own personal use and your husband to pull the night shift!

Corkmum said...

and i second what mammdiaries said!
With my own mantra
"this too will pass".
She'll get back to normality soon,when my continent was out of sorts I thought I was doing something wrong and getting her into bad habits, but one night she decided just to sleep again, no food, medicine, sleep drugs, rocking, up in arms, in our bed, required! You have my hug xo

jen said...

Ah girls, what would i do without ye?
Himself stepped in last night and I got 6 hours of sleep - in a row!!!! I'm a new woman today. Crazy pixie is happy out too...