Co-Notsleeping
Not really by concious choice, I became an "attachment parent" when Fiona was born. Our parenting choices were pretty much based on these criteria: What will make her scream the least? And do we have to wash a lot of bottles? We became co-sleepers because it was the only way we got any rest. In the crib? Hollering all night long. In our bed? All snuggled up and would sleep as long as we did.
Amelia started off a good co-sleeper. Now however, she is not. Most definitely absolutely positively completely NOT a good co-sleeper. For the past couple of months, she has been waking up for an hour or so at night and wanting to play. In bed. At three in the morning. So our nights go something like this.
Rustle, rustle, rustle. Amelia is standing up in the middle of the bed checking to see who will break first and actually look at her.
Andre groans.
Amelia shrieks a joyful "Haaaaah!" and performs a professional wrestling move to his face. Andre shrieks in pain.
I try making her lay down and nurse and she does, for a minute or two. Then starts crawling around the bed, laughing maniacally.
Andre tries holding her down and shushing her which serves only to piss her off and make her scream loudly in my ear.
Andre gives up and I take another turn trying to get her resettled. She nurses a little and latches on, latches off, latches on, latches off, bites, laughs, shakes head no, waves all done, blows raspberries, until I get irritated and let her crawl around again for awhile. Hoping somehow she'll just get so tired of crawling that she'll just fall back to sleep instantaneously.
Hours pass.
The neighbor's sprinklers come on.
Amelia stares at the blue light from the clock in fascination. Waves hello at the pretty light. Says,"Haaaaaaaaah!" loudly to her new friend the blue light.
Amelia tries laying her head down on my pillow, then Andre's pillow. Then my stomach, then Andre's chest. Then in the middle of the bed, then at the foot of the bed.
Dawn.
Amelia falls back asleep.
Time to get up!
Time to try something new. I'm not getting any sleep anyway, so I guess it's time to try getting her to stay in her crib all night. I'll just have to bite the bullet and do a little night work in her room until she's a nightime crib sleeper. She's usually there until midnight anyway, so six or seven more hours should be easy-peasy, right? Right? RIGHT?!
Amelia started off a good co-sleeper. Now however, she is not. Most definitely absolutely positively completely NOT a good co-sleeper. For the past couple of months, she has been waking up for an hour or so at night and wanting to play. In bed. At three in the morning. So our nights go something like this.
Rustle, rustle, rustle. Amelia is standing up in the middle of the bed checking to see who will break first and actually look at her.
Andre groans.
Amelia shrieks a joyful "Haaaaah!" and performs a professional wrestling move to his face. Andre shrieks in pain.
I try making her lay down and nurse and she does, for a minute or two. Then starts crawling around the bed, laughing maniacally.
Andre tries holding her down and shushing her which serves only to piss her off and make her scream loudly in my ear.
Andre gives up and I take another turn trying to get her resettled. She nurses a little and latches on, latches off, latches on, latches off, bites, laughs, shakes head no, waves all done, blows raspberries, until I get irritated and let her crawl around again for awhile. Hoping somehow she'll just get so tired of crawling that she'll just fall back to sleep instantaneously.
Hours pass.
The neighbor's sprinklers come on.
Amelia stares at the blue light from the clock in fascination. Waves hello at the pretty light. Says,"Haaaaaaaaah!" loudly to her new friend the blue light.
Amelia tries laying her head down on my pillow, then Andre's pillow. Then my stomach, then Andre's chest. Then in the middle of the bed, then at the foot of the bed.
Dawn.
Amelia falls back asleep.
Time to get up!
Time to try something new. I'm not getting any sleep anyway, so I guess it's time to try getting her to stay in her crib all night. I'll just have to bite the bullet and do a little night work in her room until she's a nightime crib sleeper. She's usually there until midnight anyway, so six or seven more hours should be easy-peasy, right? Right? RIGHT?!
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