Human Pacifier No More: Day 9

I only did two days last week, and I blame that on sleep deprivation. I totally underestimated this whole process. I know everyone says that no two babies are the same, but I always find myself comparing my two daughters. I figured that since it took my oldest one week to wean from breastfeeding, that it will take about a week to transition my youngest into her bed with no nighttime mommy pacifier. I was wrong. Dead wrong.

Last week, there was one day where she slept for four hours straight before waking up, and it only took a minute to rock her back to sleep. I felt good when I woke up in the morning. We went to the beach that day, I remember joking with my friend that I was only going to get one good night. That joke turned into a reality. I been having horrible sleep since then.

I went out with friends last week Friday. My husband said he had no trouble putting her to bed, and she slept for SIX hours straight!! He even woke up with her and rocked her back to sleep. WHAT THE??…. Then I thought to myself, maybe it was only uphill from there. Wrong again.

This past Monday night has been the worst yet. She was waking up every one to two hours, and when she would wake up I could not rock her back to sleep. She was kicking and screaming so much that I would give up and go into the living room and turn on the TV. I would sit there watching Nick @ Nite while trying to rock or pat her back. After an hour, she would finally give in and go to sleep. When I woke up Tuesday morning, I already knew I was going to have a horrible day.

Today is Thursday, almost a whole two weeks of this transition, and there is no hope. I don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel just yet. I’m so desperate for sleep that I’m debating on throwing in the towel. We shall see…..

Human Pacifier No More: Day 2

Last night was rough. I was running on only 4 hours of sleep from the night before and that wasn’t even a full 4 hours straight. So when baby girl woke me up after 3 hours, I could barely keep my eyes open. I walked like a zombie into her room and my vision was blurry as I tried to pat her back. 

10:15pm: She went to sleep, and I didn’t waste any time to fall asleep. I was so tired, I was falling asleep in the living room.

1:00am: She woke up after 3 hours. I’ll admit, I almost lost it. She wouldn’t calm down, she only got louder with her screams, and nothing was working after 30 minutes. I tried to let her cry it out and went back to my room but that seemed to have made it worse. Grabbed her and decided to give up on sleep and watch TV. My back was hurting from bending over her bed to pat her back. Watched Fresh Prince of Bel-Air for a little while I patted her back. She finally passed out around 2:00am and I put her down and went back to sleep. 

5:30am: Ok not bad, 3.5 hours later, she woke up. Half hour longer than usual. I guess I can call that a victory. This time wasn’t as bad. Rocked for a minute and put her down. 

7:45am: She woke up but I still felt like I was drugged. Since the sun was out and my plan was to still breastfeed in the day time, I nursed her and she fell back asleep and so did I. 

9:00am: we all finally woke up. I’m kind of doubting myself and a little upset that I nursed her at 7am just because I was tired. I’m not a graceful person when I’m tired, so I was grouchy while trying to feed the kids. 

  
10:55am: I’m nursing baby and seems like she’s going down for a nap. I think I might too, so I’m not totally zombie-like tonight. 

Human Pacifier No More: Day 1

**My daughter using me as a pacifier: Human Pacifier

Last night wasn’t that bad, but I think that was because I had mentally prepared myself for a sleepless night. The whole day I was a little nervous, because I love my sleep; without it I get grouchy, develop a pounding headache, and I walk around talking gibberish not able to really focus.

11:30pm: She finally went to sleep. She’s usually a late sleeper, which I don’t mind, because I’m a late sleeper as well. Put her into her bed, woke up my 6-year-old, who fell asleep on the couch, and walked her to her bed. Baby girl’s bed used to be right next to my side of the bed, but tonight, I moved it into my 6-year-old’s room. We only have two bedrooms. Joys of base housing.

2:30am: Baby girl woke up crying. Three hours, not bad. Walked into her room and saw her standing up crying. I rocked her for a few minutes and put her back down.

5:30am: Woke up crying. Three hours again, not bad. Walked in to see her standing up and crying again. I thought it was going to take only a few minutes again, but nope. This time, she wasn’t having it. She would cry just a few seconds after I would put her down. Took me 30 minutes to finally put her down without her fussing.

6:30am: She woke up crying. This time, I was sleeping for only 30 minutes. My husband was already awake getting ready for work, so I figured I just wake her up instead of rocking her back to sleep. Picked her up from her bed and went into the living room. She was surprisingly in a good mood considering she barely got any sleep. She was playing with her toys and smiling.

7:00am: Fed her some breakfast; a mixture of dry cereal and apples, bananas, and plums.

8:00am: Breastfeed her, and she is now sleeping. I debated if I should take a nap too, because I feel like I’m drugged, but my oldest is already awake and I don’t feel like leaving her when she just woke up. So instead, I drank some shakeology, and now I’m enjoying a cup of coffee. I’m praying that I’m not a total zombie today.