For the last 8 months and 3 weeks, every time someone asks how I am doing I always say OK. Then add the phrase "but tired". I never in my life knew sleep deprivation at the level you get to know it once you've pushed out your first offspring. OK so I didn't really push anyone anywhere, more like he was removed from me, but in either case... Sleep is a friend I don't spend much time with these days. When we do hang out, which is usually only for 2 to 3 hours at a time. Our moments together don't have the same quality that they did pre-Nicholas. I used to be fussy about how I slept. Which position and where the pillows were in relation to my head and neck. Now I am pretty convinced I could sleep upside down suspended from the back of a moving roller coaster car. Once you hit this level of deprivation, you're no longer picky.
What does this say about me as a mom. Well I breastfeed almost exclusively. My son only gets one "solids" meal a day. According to just about everyone, this is why I get no sleep. If I tank up my son on cereals and other various solids, he'll sleep for hours. Dave and I have put his theory to the test and let me tell you.....Nope! My son sleeps when he wants to, doesn't when he doesn't want to. Food plays little role in this cycle. Comfort is a bigger issue we think. My guess, and it's always a guess when you are a new mom, is that more of his night nursing is born out of the need for comfort, not hunger. Most days I can deal. But when my amount of sleep gets way behind what is acceptable for a living, breathing human being I question everything.
Am I doing the right things as a mom?
Is it his kidney issues?
Is he STILL teething?
Is he sick?
Is he crazy?
Am I crazy?
I shouldn't be co-sleeping, should I?
18 year old's don't sleep with their Moms, this has got to end sometime, right?
Maybe we should do "Cry it out"?
Let's be real Beth, you'd never survive "Cry it out".
The deranged sleep deprived mind goes in circles like a hamster riding his wheel. Somehow though we all survive, barely.... But we do.
What does this say about me as a mom. Well I breastfeed almost exclusively. My son only gets one "solids" meal a day. According to just about everyone, this is why I get no sleep. If I tank up my son on cereals and other various solids, he'll sleep for hours. Dave and I have put his theory to the test and let me tell you.....Nope! My son sleeps when he wants to, doesn't when he doesn't want to. Food plays little role in this cycle. Comfort is a bigger issue we think. My guess, and it's always a guess when you are a new mom, is that more of his night nursing is born out of the need for comfort, not hunger. Most days I can deal. But when my amount of sleep gets way behind what is acceptable for a living, breathing human being I question everything.
Am I doing the right things as a mom?
Is it his kidney issues?
Is he STILL teething?
Is he sick?
Is he crazy?
Am I crazy?
I shouldn't be co-sleeping, should I?
18 year old's don't sleep with their Moms, this has got to end sometime, right?
Maybe we should do "Cry it out"?
Let's be real Beth, you'd never survive "Cry it out".
The deranged sleep deprived mind goes in circles like a hamster riding his wheel. Somehow though we all survive, barely.... But we do.
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