Broken sleep

The Bubby has been sleeping well.

I decided once she turned 6 months on Saturday that if she woke before 5am, I would start settling her rather than feeding her, in an effort to drop that over night feed.

Sunday night at 1am, I thought we were being burgled and I was up exploring the house to make sure we weren't. The Bubby woke at 5am, The Toddler woke at 6am, 620, 640, 650 and 7.

Monday night at 1am The Toddler woke up and just walked in to our room (no idea why, I settled her back to sleep). At 5am one of the birds got his wing caught in the cage and I was on the phone to the emergency vet working out what to do. At 6am, The Bubby woke and fed only one side. Then she woke again at 630 for the other side. Then The Toddler was awake at 650 and I had to hide in The Bubby's room so that she wouldn't hear me and come out of her room 'before the sun comes up'.

Tuesday night at 130am I woke up from a nightmare that The Husbands ex girlfriend was shooting me. At 4 I woke up thinking I heard The Bubby. At 600 I fed The Bubby.

Last night I also woke around 1 and 4 and 6 (The Husband was gettng ready to ride to work), then up at 7 with The Bubby and The Toddler.

I am really hoping I can start sleeping through as well as my girls are.

Lunchtime naps

I may be (read: I am) guilty of letting The Bubby nap on me in the middle of the day.

Typically, once I've got The Toddler down for a nap, 9 times out of 10 The Bubby is due for a sleep. If I put her in the cot, she takes a little while to settle sometimes, or she most likely will only sleep for 45 minutes.

But, if I lay on the couch with her on my left arm up near my face, with my knees up, she will sleep an hour or an hour and a half on me.

The Husband got to witness this today - previously he has commented that I shouldn't make bad habits - I am hoping now he sees just how well it works!

Sleeping

I wasn't going to say anything because I don't want to jinx it - but I want to keep a record!

Four out of the last five nights, The Bubby has slept through. That's from 730ish until 6ish.

AMAZING.

Doors

The Toddler can now open doors.

Yesterday, while she was meant to be napping, she walked out to where I was on the couch with The Bubby and proudly declared "Oh! How lovely to see you again!" before I escorted her back to her room.

I thought it was just a one off until last night when it took close to 20 attempts for her to stay in her room - she has various delay tactics, the main ones being calling for 'mummy cuddles' (I gave in to that one at about attempt 8 but it wasn't enough to keep her in bed) or 'tuck in' (also didn't work).

I was glad I had watched quite a few of those Supernanny episodes and knew all you had to do was keep putting them back in without talking until they got the idea.

I indicated to The Husband that we could buy lever door handles and flip them so that the handle needs to be lifted up, but we agreed it would just be delaying the inevitable.

Golden Sunday

I was ready to go to bed at 6pm last night, but the whole 'Toddler needs dinner / a bath / to be put to bed" and The Bubby needed to be fed. So I cooked a quick meal for everyone at once, did the bedtime routine with The Husband's help and found myself in bed at 8pm.

I watched some tv on the iPad, figuring I'd be in bed for an hour or two before falling asleep, but found myself jerking awake 10 minutes in to watching.

I was asleep before 830.

I woke briefly at 11 when The Husband came in to put the dog out, but then I didn't wake again until 5:30 when I double checked that The Bubby's baby monitor was working.

NINE HOURS SLEEP.

It is the best night's sleep I've had in like a year AND probably the highlight of my year.

It's amazing how good I have felt all day after this!

Three times a lady

Friday night.

Feed at 8pm.

Feed at midnight.

Feed at 3am.

Feed at 6am then up with The Toddler while The Husband goes mountain biking.

URGH.

No wonder I'm so tired, that's exactly what it's like with a newborn!

After the Wonder Week

For The Bubby's first night in her cot, she woke at 3am and 6am. Not too bad, but of course, not awesome.

Last night, she stirred at 1am, but I went back to sleep without her getting noisier. Again at 3am, at which point I got up to go to the bathroom, and then she was back asleep.

Then again at 5.20am. Which is awesome.

Had she been in my room, I would have got up and tried to feed her all three times, but I was able to settle back to sleep quite easily.

I checked the Wonder Weeks application, and the dates indicate it was her first night out of the four month (five week long) sleep regression.

Although it is a little sad to see my little baby all asleep just fine without me in her big cot, in her own room, it is twice as nice to see her big moon smile when I go in to feed her in the mornings!

Eviction

Must like with The Toddler, The Bubby pushed her luck just a few too many times last night - she woke at 1.30am for a feed, 4am for half a feed, 5am with a tummyache, 530am with farts and 6am for a cuddle (with The Toddler making her grand entrance shortly before 6.30am).

Today, she commenced sleeping in the cot in her own room.

I'm of the line of thinking that not having her in the room will stop me jumping up to her when she's not necessarily hungry/in need and she will learn to sleep better.

Either way, we'll see how it goes tonight.

Waking

With a few days of additional wakeups (1am! No thanks!) we gave The Bubby two solids feeds last night.

Good news - no 1am wakeup!
Bad news - 11pm wakeup!
Good news - slept through until 5am wake up!

11pm sounds great, but it's rough when you've fallen asleep half an hour earlier, in an effort to get a good chunk of sleep before a wake up.

Of course, it's rougher on The Husband who I made get up at 630 (as I'd only just gotten back to sleep after the 5am sleep and have been up to The Toddler 9 mornings in a row) and then found out he'd only gotten to sleep at 2am. But that's his fault. I definitely enjoyed my extra 90 minutes of sleep!

Tea (time) for two

I always wondered how I would go juggling two babies at the end of the day. Night time is already the hardest part of being a parent of one, what with the tired/cranky child, juggling their dinner (and yours if you're feeling adventurous), bath, stories and bed.

My strategy mostly came down to waiting until The Husband was home and then we'd deal with one each. But that doesn't always work (he's often still at work or sport at this time).

But, we've got in to a bit of a groove (and it seemed I learnt nothing from not having The Toddler in a routine earlier, only really starting this at four months!).

 - Feed The Bubby while The Toddler eats dinner (leftovers from the night before) and usually watches tv (it stops her running around making mess and it's surprisingly effective to pause it until she takes a bite)
 - Bring The Bubby in her rocker to the entrance of the bathroom
 - Do The Toddlers hair, teeth and soap in the bath
 - Bring The Bubby in to the bath as well, let The Toddler pour water on her belly ("good helping!")
 - Nappy and onesie on The Bubby while The Toddler continues to much around
 - The Bubby back in the rocker while The Toddler gets dressed/does a nudie run
 - Stories for both girls in The Toddlers room
 - Put The Bubby in her sleeping bag, give her a top up feed and put her in to bassinet
 - Drink.

Bassinet

The Bubby is still sleeping in our room in her bassinet. It's not much hassle at all as she is a pretty good sleeper, and we're getting used to getting our stuff ready in the dark at night (it's also a good reason to keep our room tidy because it's easier to find stuff / not trip over things if I've made the bed, put pyjamas under pillows and cleared The Husbands giant uggboots out of the way).

I have a friend who was going to take the bassinet off our hands (no more babies = no more need for bassinet) and it has been getting closer to the date where she'll need to pick it up so she has it before the baby arrives.

And I've been pushing it back as long as I could so that we can minimise disturbances to our pattern of sleeping (most nights) from 8pm-4am in case it changed once we moved her in to her cot. And I think she needs some curtains in her room as there is gaps all around the pull down blind that I think will wake her when the sun is up.

So it was with some relief that I found out my friend has organised a different bassinet.

Looks like we'll have a roommate for a little longer!

Contrast

From one extreme to the other!

The Toddler was in bed, asleep, before 8pm last night.

After The Bubby woke at 1am, 4am and 6am (yes, seriously. No, I'm not impressed), I went in to The Toddlers room at 730 to see what was happening.

And I couldn't see her.

After a moment of shock I headed around and found her on the floor. On her belly. With her head at the opposite end to where the pillow was.

I called out and told her it was time to wake up - no response.
I tickled her back - no response.
I told her again - no response.

She was warm and breathing, but I could feel myself starting to panic.

I got The Husband in and he joined in too - scratching her back, touching her cheek, talking to her, telling her to wake up.

And just before I got to panicky, shrill demaning she wake up - she woke up.

She sat straight up, looked at the window in her room, declared it was day time and asked to go play.

We're not sure if she climbed out or fell out, but the bed rail was shifted away from the bed a bit, so it's more likely she fell. I'm just really surprised she did it without making any noise / waking up!

I had forgotten how heavy a sleeper she can be, and how hard she was to wake up when I needed her to (like for daycare).

Interstate

URGH.

Travelling with The Toddler has brought on a whole new level of extreme.

Visiting my brother in Wagga, we had to book an apartment with a seperate room for The Toddler, knowing she would need a bed and hasn't slept with us in ours since she was a baby.

So she didn't get to sleep until after 10.30pm.

Then she woke at 430am when The Bubby was feeding in our room. And she wouldn't stay in her room (she could open the handles) and wouldn't let The Husband settle her, so I spent two hours laying in the second bed in her room telling her to lay down and sleep - we had left a light on in the lounge so if she got up and tried to find us she could see, rather than freaking out in the dark. Instead, this light made her think it was day time, and not go-the-eff-back-to-sleep time.

She then gave me a 45 minute sleep before raring to start the day. And then she napped three seperate times in the car during the day.

I've already been called out a few times on being short with her, but I gotta tell you, on such little sleep for such stupid (to me) reasons, I'm not going to apologise to anyone.

480 minutes

It happened!! 8 hours of sleep!!!

I was wiped after our Sydney trip and in bed before 9. Then I finished the episode of Glee I had been watching the night before, and started a new one before I knew I was just too tired.

I heard The Bubby stirring and decided to wait and see if she would settle herself, rather than getting up to feed her. When she started to chatter, I decided it would be better to get up and feed her and go back to sleep rather than have her wake The Toddler (the night before she stirred at 4am but I waited and she went back to sleep for two hours).

It was 6:30am.

Fantastic!

That said, I didn't feel like a whole new person or anything - I guess I'll always just wake up feeling a little tired.

Stop counting!

Based on that previous nights sleep, I went to bed at 9pm on Sunday night and got to sleep at 1030.

The Bubby woke up 6am (and I stirred at 1am, 4am, 5am and up at 6am).

Feeling cocky, last night I went to sleep just before 11:30.
The Bubby woke at 2am, 5am and 8am (The Husband got up to The Toddler at 630).

Ugh. No more double wake nights, please!!

Counting

I know 'they' tell you not to work it out, but had I gone to bed at 10pm (my normal time) rather than 12:30am (after going to the movies) I would have had a full 8 hours sleep...

Thar she goes

Last night, The Bubby got both hungry AND overtired while The Toddler was going through her bedtime routine (dinner at 6, bath or a shower, nudie run around the loungeroom, three stories, stars on, lamp off, goodnight). I fed one side while watching The Toddler, but when I took The Bubby in to her room to change her (she smelt poopy) The Toddler wouldn't sing so that I could hear her (and instead went quiet and picked at her eczma on her back and it started to bleed), so we abandoned that and continued with nudie run etc while The Bubby was screechy in her rocking chair.

I zipped The Bubby in to her sleeping bag (it's always at least 2 degrees colder in our room than the family room where the heating sensor is) fed the other side in the dark and put her in the bassinet, still screechy. I decided to film it so I could have a record of how quickly she settles - by the time I tucked one blanket over her, got the iPad from the bedside table and turned it to video to record the noise, she had gone from screaming to asleep.

We are really, really, really lucky.

Routines

The Bubby has guided us in to a routine of her own.

Her last feed seems to be around 5 or 6 (depending on how the day has gone) and it's her fifth or sixth feed of the day. I have her in her seat while I get The Toddler's dinner ready, and she's usually asleep (or well on her way) once it's time for The Toddlers bath.

Then she sleeps through until anywhere between 3 and 6am, usually with another two or three hours of sleep after that.

She's also ready to nap an hour or so after her feed, so she does spend a lot of time asleep. I feel bad putting her into her bassinet at her first tired signs (usually going to town on her hands/fingers/thumbs) but 9 times out of 10 she selfsettles herself to sleep within two minutes, with not much of a fuss at all.

She was a bit upset some of her awake time today, but that seemed to be because she is snuffly - I have a cold, and it's like a final injustice for breastfeeding mums that there is nothing you can take (apart from panadol) to help recover. And sleep is inevitably hard to grab with a baby.

Twelve hours

5pm - feed The Bubby and put her to bed as she is looking tired.

9pm - The Bubby is stirring, will have a shower so I'm ready to feed her then sleep once she is done. She settles.

11pm - The Bubby is still stirring, will get some quick shuteye before she wakes me. She settles.

2am - The Husband is in bed after playing games at a friends house then watching TV. She is still settled.

330am - The Bubby is shifting. Go to the bathroom so that I am able to feed her without having to put her on the floor between sides while I dash to the loo. She settles.

430am - The Bubby is squiggling around. Can't wait any longer or my boobs are going to explode. Luckilly she feeds both sides (quite often does only one) and we're able to get back to sleep with minimal fuss (although, she spend a good 10 minutes deciding whether or not she'd do the second side - so annoying that you can't bargain with/hurry a three month old).

That's almost 12 hours between feeds!

I wonder what it will be like when she's in her own room and we don't hear her shifting around on her plastic bassinet mattress?

Damn.

Those long nights of zero wakeups have ended.

Welcome back nights of one or two wakeups - I didn't miss you.