Let me preface this by saying that Graham is the biggest blessing Chris and I have ever received. He is a joy and truly the happiest baby! Just the happiest baby who loves life so much he doesn't want to sleep!
I'm about to get really honest. I've cried almost everyday for a week because of sleep deprivation. The kind of sleep deprivation where your head hurts so bad you can't even function...and I am not one to get headaches. Graham was sleeping 6-8 hour stretches for a few weeks and for the last week he has been waking up every 2-3 hours. He goes down between 8:45-9:30 and has been waking at 12, 2:30, 4-5, 6, and then we get up at 7. We have a nightly routine of bath (sometimes), bottle (5-6oz), rock, put down awake, and he falls asleep without a fuss. He is sleeping in a Woombie because he started to bust out of his swaddle. The room is cool and we have the sound machine blaring the ocean :)
During the day we try to follow Baby Wise, loosely. He eats, we play, and he goes down for a nap 30-45 minutes after he finishes eating. We also make sure that he is not up for more than 1.5-2 hours at a time. Once again, he goes down really easy, but has been waking up at 30 minutes on the dot. I let him roll around until he starts crying, then I let him cry for about 5 minutes. I try to go in and put in his paci, but the moment he sees me he has the biggest cheesy smile on his face and I just try to ignore it. Sometimes I rock him a minute then put him back down and other days I put the paci in and repeat that 5 minutes process a couple times, but almost every time he never goes back to sleep...even if I transfer him to his swing. He doesn't cry or whine when I get him up either! He is always so darn happy. Today he napped on me for 2.5 hours which was a blessing because I literally couldn't function. I've tried to not make that a habit, but sometimes desperation calls.
I'm not sure what to do. This morning I fed him from 2:40-3:15am and he woke up at 4:45am. I knew he wasn't hungry, so I just got him and brought him to bed with us and he slept (on and off) until 7am.
We try the let him cry for 5 minutes, then go in, paci, shush, repeat in 5 minutes if needed, but he becomes so whiny that I end up having to feed him and, honestly, when you're so tired, it is hard to wait 5 minutes and then repeat that process.
We have tried to dream feed between 10-11 and he still got up at 1-2am. Saturday night and Sunday night at my parent's house we didn't get home until around midnight and each night G woke up so I fed him at midnight and he slept until 4:30ish, then went back down until 7ish. Now that we are back home and he is going to bed earlier, he is waking a million times a night.
Is this a growth spurt? Is he getting used to being fed? We always put him down awake, so I know it isn't that he needs to be rocked because that doesn't always do the trick. Is he really hungry? He doesn't take a paci very well, but sucks his hands through his Woombie. I know that we know our baby boy best, but I'd love to hear of others who struggled with the same thing around the 3 month mark. I know he can't really soothe himself yet, but is feeding him always the option I have to go with?
All I hear from friends is how their baby is "sleeping perfectly through the night!" and I can't help but cry my eyes out because I'm working with 4 hours of broken sleep for over a week now.
Also, on my Wonder Weeks app is says he is in a "leap" which could be causing the sleepless nights. All I know is I am dying. Literally, I feel like this is worse than the newborn stage and I don't even want to think about the four month sleep regression.
Even with this broken sleep he is such a happy baby. Everyone who has met him always asks if he ever cries. Truly, he is just as happy as can be, but momma needs some sleep!
So, do any of you mommies out there have any advice? I'm all ears!!
