I talked with Mike yesterday about helping me get more sleep. (thanks, Tania and mom, for kickstarting that)
There are several roadblocks. One, up until now, I tried to take a nap when Ben was sleeping after dropping off Kaia at school, but he usually fell asleep on the way home and woke up when I took him out, not falling asleep until I put him in the car to go pick Kaia up. However, after next week, Kaia is out of school, so I'll be able to take a nap in the mornings.
A few people have suggested having Mike take over one or more of the night feedings, which is where I'm really not getting enough sleep. Ben still wakes up 5-7 times a night to eat. He goes right back to sleep each time, which is good, but it's really starting to wear on me. The problem with Mike taking over a couple feedings is that I still wake up when Ben does, usually before Mike (if Mike wakes up at all) With how attuned I am to doing this, I really don't think time will help me sleep through one or two feedings a night, but still get up for others.
However, Mike offered to take over Saturday night feedings all together! It'll take several weeks I think for Ben to get used to it. Last night I slept on the couch and still woke up every time Ben did. Ben also wasn't happy about the change, and cried each time, so not only was I awake, I was awake longer than I would have been if I were feeding him. I think I am going to start feeding him formula for a bottle or two each night so he gets used to it, and hopefully in time he'll get to the point he doesn't cry-so then I won't wake up as long as I am out on the couch. Another really awesome effect was that Mike got a good idea of how I feel, AND he's aware it's even worse for me. The poor man was exhausted this morning, and looked at me with admiration for doing this for the last 8 months. He was sympathetic about it before, but now he understands. If I can keep up with feeding Ben a bottle a couple times each night, next Saturday I may get a couple of hours of uninterrupted sleep! If I can remember how...
Mike has been taking Ben occasionally in the evening allowing me to go to bed early, and we're going to do that a bit more often.
So keep your fingers crossed that all this will add up to me getting a little more sleep. Wish us luck!
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I would probably just want to die at this point. Charlie was down to two night wakings by the time he was four months old. Is it possible that he's falling asleep during the feedings and not getting enough to eat? How much time does he go between feedings? I know one girl who started addign rice cereal to her daughter's bottles to hopefully have her sleep more. I don't know what to tell you. Gosh, you must be tired.
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