This month’s obsession is sleep. I am sure I will write more about it as the obsession gets deeper and deeper, but tonight I want to specifically talk about middle-of-the-night feedings. At eleven weeks, my little one is still waking up several times for night feedings. The quantity generally depends on the quality and the amount of time I invest in burping him. For those people who said that breastfed babies don’t need to burp at night: You don’t know shit!
The middle of the night feedings are supposed to be quiet. The point is to quickly go to the aide of your little one, quietly feed him without rousing him too much, burp him, and put him back to sleep. You’re not to even change him unless he’s pooped. This way, he doesn’t fully awaken and thus it’s easier for him to fall back asleep. Makes sense, right?
I am pretty good at getting to him before he cries himself awake. At the first sound of hunger, thanks to my ultra-sensitive monitor, I rush to his side and make sure his eyes are open signaling actual hunger and not sleep talking. I pick him up and put him on the feeding pillow and we rock back and forth while I feed. It’s perfectly quiet for the first ten minutes. And then….
ACHOOOO!
My sneeze pierces through the night, making both me and my peacful baby jump. His eyes are wide open now and he doesn’t know what just happened.
ACHOOO! ACHOOO! ACHOOO!
Just in case he had decided to go back to sleep, my allergies let him know that’s out of the question. My sneezes pile on top of each other. Then to add to the punishment, my nose starts dripping. So actively that I have to actually blow it disabling all of David’s attempts to find that sleepy place. We’re talking fifteen nose-blows before the faucet of a nose I have will quit. Actually it doens’t even quit, it merely takes a break until I am leaning over to put David back in his crib. Then it decides to drip once more.
Now I have a conundrum. Do put him down more quickly to rush for a tissue and risk awaking him or do I let my nose drip on him? I won’t tell you which option I choose, but I will tell you it’s a nightly dilemma.
As David goes back to dreaming, I make my way into the bedroom, and just as I lay in bed it comes once more.
ACHOOO!
It will not quit until all members of my small family are awake and unrested.
Ps: I had intended not to write about my son or montherhood to not turn this log into one of those. I wanted it to be more than that as well as that. However, my life is little besides David and work and sleep right now so since it’s a major part of my life, I decided to write about it. This way, I ill hopefully get back in the habit of updating regularly and eventually start writing about more varied topics. If you don’t like reading about motherhood issues, visit me weekly and hopefully there will be at least one entry that’s not about David.
Well, that is a dilema. I’ve inherited sneezing fits from my father’s side of the family and been told to NOT hold them in, that it can be hazardous to my health (no joke). I eventually gave in and had my baby sleep with us once he was up for his first feeding in the night. It meant more rest for all three of us. And yes, there is a mother’s instinct to not roll over and smother the baby. You just don’t sleep as deeply, but then once my baby was born deep sleep seemed to go out the window anyway. I’m not so sure about a similar father’s instinct, though. Ian would often fling an arm out and so I took to sleeping with my baby up against the wall with a big blanket rolled up between him and the wall so he was warm and didn’t fall through! It worked and I never had trouble getting him to sleep in his own bed. It was really sweet snuggling up with him too. I’m sorry I can’t help you with the sneezing. If it is indeed allergies perhaps a homeopath can help you. Any remedies he/she would suggest would be safe to take while breast feeding.
P.S. I’ve heard that a wakeful baby is a highly intelligent one!
Gifted children don’t sleep…they’re afraid they may miss some knowledge. Gifted children don’t sleep, they don’t know how to turn off their brains. And then they become teenagers and you can’t wake them up!
Sneezing? Never had the problem. Don’t know what to tell you.
Actually, I never did night feeds…Michael did. Every single one of them when he was in town. Then his mother came to visit and she decided we should close our door and sleep, she would do the feedings. She went home and the following morning Michael woke up at 6…Dave had never been up through the night. Michael was terrified something had happened, made me go in and see if there was hot air coming out of Dave’s nose.
Argh!
I’ve got a kid who’s a bad sleeper and she’s definitely too smart for my own good. I have allergies too, but don’t have the need to sneak up on my kids. Have you tried a saline mister (the kind you squeeze up your nose)? You might try one of those, then blow your nose to clear out the allergens.
As far as not having a life… parenting does tend to be all-consuming, but I think that’s mostly because it is more compelling than almost everything else. It’s exhausting, exhilarating, rewarding… like a Mountain Dew commercial, only slower.
Interesting point of view.