Tired Dad - Overtired Baby...

[bworthey]

I need some help, advice - maybe just some time to vent! I've posted here before about sleep issues with my lo - she is about to turn one next week. Just to give you a quick run down on her status right now - she doesn't sleep through the night, wakes 1-2 times a night, can't put herself back to sleep, needs us/bottle to go to sleep. I realize some of that is perfectly normal - I'm not complaining (yet) about those things - just stating fact. Basically the advice I got last time, was to just go with it, rock her/feed her to sleep - she's only little once and I'm going to miss these days. Well, my wife and I pretty much did buck up and we devised a system that was working for us and it was fine - even got to a point she was only waking up one time a night which was great.

Well, now, here we are - and my wife and I just found out she's pregnant again! We are excited, please don't misunderstand me - but now I'm freaking out that how are we gonna do this with two!? How do we keep the next one from being dependent on us or a bottle like this one!? My wife is due towards the end of september so I feel like we have a little over 7 months to get this figured out.

Lately, our little one has been fighting sleep and it's getting progressively harder to put her down on the bottle or rocking her after she spits it out. She's also recently cut out her afternoon nap - no matter what we do, she will not take another nap and will end up staying up from 5-7 hours in the afternoon before she goes to bed again.

Add on top of that - I'm just tired and frustrated because I feel like I'm doing it all right now. No shot at my wife - she's pregnant, she's nauseous, she's overly tired - she's trying to grow a person! So, I try and step up and do more for her and for our daughter.

Thanks for letting me vent! I think I needed it.

 

[daddy america]

My advice is to work together with the babies mother and figure out a plan that works. Maybe like an hour on hour off schedule. Or 2 hour on and off. When we had our child it was difficult aswell my daughter is 5 now. But in those days of age it was really hard. You just need to work as a team. I work for Philip morris and my schedule there is 12 hrs 5 days a week. So if I could do it then I know you can. It's okay to vent. I mean that's really my reason for starting my blog. I hope this works.

 

[bworthey]

Well, I mean, I do feel like we share the load to some extent. She works outside the home and I stay at home with our daughter. I'm in school currently and am the youth minister at a church. So, I know she is tired when she gets home from work. And we had it all figured out/had a system till she got pregnant again - ha! She had to wake me up the other night for me to get our daughter because she was so nauseous though. I don't know - I can't expect her to stick to a schedule when she never knows how tired or how sick she is going to feel.

 

[IADad]

Where did you find the time to get pregnant? Sorry, i thought a little levity might help....;-)

Since you are home days, does she get up like clockwork? I don't know what your day is like, but the first thing that came to mind is that this baby needs to be up at 6:00 like clockwork, out for a stroll at 7:30 and another after lunch...I'm just wondering if some fresh air and early rising might restore her sleep/nap schedule. I know what it's like to have a kid who doesn't follow normal schedules, but the last thing you can do is give up on routine. If anything I think she needs more routine. Nine months is a lot of time, so don't freak out. Work on schdules and routine and maybe you'll have a more handleable situation when new baby comes along. As for history repeating itself, well, I think most people here will tell you one kid is not like the other. Same ingredients, same oven, totally different finished product. Say that aint miraculous. Keep swinging!

 

[bworthey]

Well, this one was a bit of a surprise! ha! Not to mention, we had to have help to have the first one!

To answer your first question - she used to get up like clockwork. We have never specifically woken her up at a certain time in the morning. She usually did wake up within 30 minutes of the same time every morning though - now because she is going to bed a little later, she is sleeping a little later in the mornings, but it's still within about a 30 minute window.

I do think some fresh air would be good for her - the weather has been crazy here lately, freezing cold one day and then raining on the other days. But will definitely try and get her out more.

We've never had a rigid routine - whether it be her sleeping or her feeding. She sort of fell into a schedule, depending on her stage in life, ya know? When she was just a few months old, she only slept like 30 minutes at a time - now that was like clockwork! you could set your watch by it! She now usually goes down for a nap around the same time everyday, within a 15-30 minute window, and was going to bed at the same times, but because her sleep has become a bit erratic lately - bed times have been all over the place.

This may sound crazy - but I don't know how anyone would keep a baby on a rigid schedule - everyday. Our schedules vary so much with church and other responsibilities - we would have to miss church or whatever the case may be so she would get naps and go to bed at the same time every night. And would you wake her up from naps, just for the sake of maintaining the schedule?