Really, we have been working hard on sticking to our bedtime routine. The week before Christmas until the week after Christmas, Kaiden started to sleep through the night. Then, he hit a growth spurt, and that went to hell in a hand basket real quick. Now, at the end of Kaiden's 14th week, we are going through the four month sleep regression two months early.
Before I get into the hell that is the four month sleep regression, I want to write down what we managed to accomplish, and how we worked out our bedtime routine.
- We agreed we wanted Kaiden to be in bed by 9pm. Previously he was staying up to 11, and that was getting to be too much.
- We start our routine at 8 pm. This includes a bath every night, sometimes a belly massage before or after the bath, reading two books, saying our prayers, getting a bottle (since he will comfort nurse for while if I let him nurse, and this way, I know he's getting a full meal before bedtime), then being put down for bed.
- The first couple days were the worst...but they weren't really that bad. We had to go up a few times to assure Kaiden that it was okay and to give him his bink. We've been in the routine for a little over two weeks now, and we only go up once, if that. He's really good at self-soothing, he just doesn't like being alone in rooms by himself, and when he realizes we aren't there, that's when he gets upset.
It was nice, after we got into this routine, to have a few hours to ourselves each night before we went to bed too. It was also nice because we could sleep through the night with the baby.
Was nice.
Was.
And then the sleep regression hit. Suddenly, Kaiden started getting up for his 4 am night feeding again. Then, he started to get up for both the 4 am feeding AND the 2 am feeding. Now, we are back on his newborn schedule, for the most part. He sleeps from 9 - 2, then wakes up at 4, 5, 6, 7, and 9. It's that last stretch that has been the hardest. I would rather get three solid hours of sleep at a time, then be woken up every 45 minutes to an hour. It is wearing me out, especially because I am nursing all of those feedings.
We are thinking about using a bottle for the 2 am feeding again, like we did when he was a newborn. That would let me rest a little longer before he starts waking me up every hour until I have to go to work. The downside, I thought, would be that I'd still have to pump, but really, I don't, since he was skipping that feeding all together before. My body should know what to do. I hope.
The sleep regression also goes hand-in-hand with a growth spurt that lasts damned near a whole month, or so they say. This time, Kaiden is eating his most through the hours of 4 am and 9 am, and he seems to be eating less during the day. He is also fighting me at every chance he can get when it comes to nursing, which is super stressful.
We also tried to move Kaiden into the nursery yesterday...which didn't work. It was mostly because of me, since I got super anxious and cried as soon as I left the room. I put Kaiden back into my room. It was silly to try anyway, since he is waking up so often, and I don't feel like getting up out of bed and walking to the nursery each time he needs to eat.
So, that's what's been going on this week. Such a long, long week. I really hope this doesn't last a month.
Here he is helping mommy fold a sock:
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