We're Getting There

So...sleep has been going a bit better. I've begun topping off S with a few ounces of formula after every feeding. It takes a bit of time, but I'm finding a full belly all day long helps with the sleep at night more than just a top off in the evening. After some feedings he takes an extra ounce, after others he takes 3. It just depends. But, the important thing is we are back to sleeping til 5:30 or 6...and on 2 occasions a little bit later. Phew.

Sleeeeeeep...I miss it.

So. Sawyer will be 6 months in less than a week. And I hate to admit it, but I am still up once for feeding with him each night. Yes, there have been 3 days in the past 175 that he has slept until after 6 a.m. but they are few and far between.

This is new ground for me. Grayson was sleeping through the night every couple nights at 2 1/2 months. Then at 4 months I did a little tough love and over the course of 3 nights he cried it out and dropped it. Night 1 - 20 minutes, Night 2 - 10 minutes, Night 3 - 3 minutes. Pssht. Easy peasy.

Sawyer, well he's got a whoooole different attitude. Crying it out simply doesn't work. Or maybe I'm just not letting him go long enough. I've let him go up to 1:15 minutes before. Boy was that tough. And the end result was only me being up for that whole hour and fifteen minutes and listening to him wail...then tagging on another 30 minutes of no sleep to feed him. So lately, yes, I've gotten a bit softer. I let him go 30 minutes tops and I get in there and feed him, cause let's be honest. I. want. to. sleep. And once he's fed, he's happy and will go back to sleep til anywhere between 7 and 8:30.

But I'm tired. And I'm done. And I've tried it all. He's been topped off with formula. Been given rice cereal. We've played paci tag. None of it seems to work. He's quite stubborn.

Honestly I'm half tempted to just stop breastfeeding altogether to see if a few days of full on formula make his belly nice and full and make him happier and sleepier. (And i love breastfeeding...so this is saying a lot).

Now....I will say this - he goes to bed super early. I've tried keeping him up later to see if it makes a difference and it doesn't. So he has kept his 6:30/7:00 bedtime going down at the same time as his big brother. So this is nice. No complaints there since I get a few hours of quiet adult time each evening. But, depending on the night, he will be up screaming anytime from 3:30 to 5:30. There really is no consistency. And 5:30 I really don't mind. At all. But he seems to be rarely making it there these days. A little regression perhaps? He knows his mama is a little bit of a softy in her older age?

Any advice for a fellow mama here? I just want some sleep.

(oh and p.s. - as i'm typing this he also has totally boycotted naptime today. arghhhhhh!!!!)

I'm sure this will backfire on me, but....

I know that me speaking of this will backfire on me, but I just have to say I'm so proud of my little fella. He slept 10 hours straight last night! 1-0. Wow! He went down at 7:30 and didn't wake up til 5:30. Momma went down at 9:30 and slept til 5:30 (8 hours of sleep? unheard of for me!). It was a dream.

When he went back down at 6 I was actually rested enough to stay up and get some stuff down around the house before Grayson woke up. Heavenly is the only word to describe it.

And now that I've spoken of it, I'm prepared for a night of every hour on the hour feedings tonight. ;-)

Sleeeeep Update

So I'm writing this post at 4 a.m....and I've been up since about 2. So all is not well on the sleep front. But, there is 1 shining light of hope for me still. It is called am.bien. At my check up last week I was telling my OB of my sleep woes. She told me am.bien is safe for pregnancy and she wants me to be sleeping. She suggested taking 5mg at first, then upping to 10 if that doesn't work. She also said to not take it every night if I can help it.

So in the last week, I've done an every 3rd night rotation. Every 3rd night I pop a pill and have glorious sleep. The other 2 nights....well, they are hit or miss. Some are ok, with at least enough sleep to stay sane. Others are like tonight. Here's what it looks like thus far.

• 9 p.m. - Head upstairs to start process of getting in bed/going to sleep
• 9:30 - husband falls asleep, so I turn off the tv (he gets up at 4:30 so he's often first to pass out - and he requires tv to sleep to....so I'm nice and oblige)
• 10:00 - I doze off for first time
• 12 a.m. - up for first pee
• 12:30 - wake up again, try to get comfortable, go back to sleep
• 1 a.m. - up for 2nd pee
• 1:30 - wake up again - try to get comfortable, go back to sleep

• 2 a.m. - up for 3rd pee - so annoying!
• 2:45 a.m. - been wide awake since 2, so get out of bed, head downstairs. I make hubs coffee for a.m. and pack his lunch (since i forgot last night), snack on a pop tart and a small glass of milk. Facebook chat with my sister who happens to be up with her son. Read some emails and blogs, watch Enews.
• 4 a.m. - Write a blog post about my sleep woes

• 4:30 a.m. - My plan is to head back up to bed once David's alarm goes off. Once he's out of bed I can toss and turn and sprawl and hopefully get comfortable enough to get a couple more hours in before G wakes up.

Phew! This kinda helped. Just writing all that drama out is making me sleepy!

I seriously am excited about a newborn and the middle of the night feedings. Cause if I'm going to be up anyway, I just assume have something to do!

Question though, if you were me would you take the am.bien every other day? instead of every 3rd? Or tough it out? I just don't know what to do! I know the doc said it's safe, I just really, really hate to take something if I don't need to.