Hello again friends!
If you are anything like me when it comes to sleep you love it and can't get enough of it, seriously, like you can't get enough. If a genie came to you and asked for three wishes they would all be for uninterrupted sleep time. But since that isn't happening anytime soon, I am trying to make the best of it and get my little guy on some sort of a sleeping schedule. How is that going you might ask?
Well....
We have tried so many different things and schedules as far as his sleeping goes. When we first brought Sam home we were nervous that he would stop breathing in the middle of the night, so he slept in his mamaroo (which is fabulous by the way) and we both slept in the living room. I don't know why I thought that sleeping with him in the living room would somehow help if he stopped breathing...I'd be asleep. How would I even know if he had stopped breathing? But, somehow I thought it would be helpful, so that is what we did for about 3 days.
Then, we decided that since Chase needed to get a good amount of sleep at night because he would have to work during the day and wouldn't be able to take a nap at home like I could (notice I said could...who has time to nap? I mean, seriously). So, we decided that Chase would go to bed at 9/10 o'clock and he would get up with Sam for his 4 am feeding.
**Sam was already on a feeding schedule from the hospital to eat about 3 ounces every 3 hours, so we kept him on that. Because he was a premie, we were really worried about his weight and growth, so we woke him to feed him. At his 2 month appointment, the doctor told us his weight and growth was great and to let him sleep, so that is what we do now.**
We tried it this way for a couple of weeks with Sam sleeping in the bassinet in our room, but it was difficult because we would have times when Sam woke up in between my time and Chase's time and we didn't know what should get up with him...it was almost always me, which was another annoying thing. I felt like I was getting no sleep at all and that we were trying too hard to schedule our time with Sam.
We have also tried Sam sleeping in his crib. Which he did horribly with because he has acid reflux ,and would pretty much scream the minute he was laid down flat. There was also a terrifying incident of the baby monitor dying from not being plugged up in our room, and our super loud air conditioner which lead to me sleeping through his 4 am feeding and waking at 7 to run into his room and hear him screaming. Tears came and I was so scared that something like that would happen again, so we decided we would hold off on the crib for another couple of weeks.
We then decided we would do his and her nights. I had four nights out of the week and Chase had three. Meaning that when it was our night we would feed him at 11, then sleep on the couch, wake up at 3 or 4 and feed him again, then back to sleep on the couch, and then up at 7 and feed him again. Sound exhausting? It was - if it was your night. When it wasn't your night, you got to sleep in the big queen size bed all by yourself and not be woken up...ahhh heaven...except when you're the mom.
This didn't work because Chase was having a hard time calming Sam down at night, getting him to finish his bottles, and he just wasn't feeling great about the whole situation. Which lead to me being woken up in the middle of the night to take over, which was frustrating and really annoying. But, instead of getting angry and telling him to figure it out or that what he was doing wasn't fair, I prayed about it. Seriously through my exhausted new mom tears, I prayed and prayed that God would help Chase in this new role and help me in being a supportive spouse. What God revealed to me is that there will be times in Sam's life when one of us (Chase or myself) is better equipped. For example, when Sam starts going through puberty and has all kinds of crazy questions about his body, Chase will definitely be taking the lead on that! But, for right now, I am more equipped. That doesn't mean that Chase is a lesser parent, it just means that for this season, I am going to be showing Chase more grace and love as a parent, and hope that he does the same when I feel unprepared and ill equipped.
So, we talked about it and have come up with a way that is working...for now.
Chase takes care of Sam's feeding at 7 am (giving me time to pump in peace, get morning chores done, and begin the day), 7 pm (which lets me finish dinner and pick up a little bit), and 11 pm (giving me time to shower, and finishing doing dishes and laundry). Then, I will do the day feedings at 11am and 3pm, and I will wake up with Sam during the night and nurse him. We don't get to nurse very often because he has to have so many different things in his bottles, so that time at night is our time, and it is very sweet. Then, Sam usually falls asleep in bed with me nursing him on my side and we sleep for a couple more hours until it's time to get up. Co-sleeping was definitely something I thought I would never do, but I know that he is safe from the way I position him and myself, so that is what we do...for now.
Eventually, I would like to be able to transition Sam back to the crib and start working on getting him into more of a feeding/sleeping schedule, but that is for another day.
Hope you found this interesting! I'd love to hear what you do for your little one!
Courtney
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