Sleeping :: Gray Area.

I'm coming to you all this morning in a state of semi-alertness, after a long and very unrestful night.  Well, after many long and unrestful nights actually.

Simon has decided that sleeping is quite frankly, for the birds.  It's very hard to get him to go to fall asleep at night, he will not fall asleep on his own, he'll lay for a few minutes and then cry.  It's not a fuss either, it's a full blown cry.  I cannot handle that.  So, we rock him, hold him, and he'll fall asleep.  We put him down, sound asleep, and twenty minutes later we hear the sweet little sound of his voice.  Or his ordinarily sweet voice, except when he needs to be sleeping.  It hasn't always been like this, though.  I tried really hard from the beginning to have him awake after feeding, and fall asleep on his own.  He was great at it. Was being the key word there. 

Let's review a little.  About the time he was ten or twelve weeks old I jumped on the Moms On Call bandwagon (thank you Twitter and Blogland) and believe it or not, Simon started sleeping eight to ten hours, all night long.  I was ecstatic.  Kirsten was not a good sleeper (still isn't, that's another post for another day).  I wanted to tell the world, "My baby is sleeping through the night!"  I mean really, I think I told the gas station attendant.  I told the grocery store boy helping me carry my bags to the car.  I somehow figured out a way to pop that little tidbit into the conversation I had with the lady on the street walking her dog.  I was in a state of bliss.  At that point Kirsten was sleeping well too, which meant Peter and I were sleeping all night long.

That lasted a few glorious weeks, and then the little man got Thrush.  Goodbye restful nights!  Okay, so he pretty quickly got over the Thrush (thank goodness), but wasn't sleeping well.  Give it a week or so, he got a cold.  Then, an ear infection.  Shortly after his antibiotics were gone he started teething and before we knew it two little teeth popped through on the bottom.  Obviously, teeth coming in equals poor sleeping.

So, that brings us to last week, just after the teeth, when we took him in for this three week post-ear infection check.  The damn infection is still there.  So, they put him on Azithromycin (Z pack) to try and get the ear infection cleared up.  Our doctor gave us the go ahead to try Ibuprofen (we had much better luck with that for Kirsten than Tylenol), which resulted in a little better sleep for a few nights.  But, not really.  I mean better sleep means he slept for four hours or so by himself.

So friends, I'm desperate.  I'm tired.  Peter's tired.  For goodness sake Simon has to be tired, right?  We all need some sleep.  I've tried many methods with Kirsten, and some with Simon but I'm really asking for any input you might have.  What worked/works for you?  Simon's five months old, a super happy and cheerful baby, very easy going.  He's currently nursing four times during the day (every four hours or so, but not on a rigid schedule), and then usually once during the night.  No solids yet.  He sleeps in the office, in a pack and play with a white noise machine.  Eventually we want them to share a bedroom, and have it all set up and ready to go. I'm idealistically waiting until he's sleeping through the night consistently (ha) to put him in there.

I don't mind a little crying and sleep training, but I'm not good at a rigid schedule.  He's my baby, and I do love to rock him and hold him.  I can't handle letting him cry at night if there is any sliver of a doubt in my mind that he may be in pain (from teeth or sickness).

I realize why God made babies so darn precious and sweet, because there's no way you can hold a grudge against something this adorable, no matter how freaking tired you are.  Simon, we love you more than words can say, and honestly I'd be okay if I had to wake up every night for the rest of your eighteen years you'll be living here.  But really, I'll probably be a more fun momma if you do let me get some sleep...soon.