Kinetic Boy at it again/Sleep Train back on track

Our kinetic son has been quite the mover and shaker this month. Once again preferring to move and shake in many ways, night and day, to the act of sleep. Each week has been a little bit worse since our return home. This week has been hell. He falls asleep, but won't stay asleep and then once he wakes up, he won't go back to sleep. I miss our cordial night time dance that we had pre-Maui. I feel like he's changed the dance and I didn't learn the new steps, so I'm clumsily trying to relearn them. I never was much of a dancer. I used to be a good sleeper.

I've tried to place the blame on just about everything. Since it's now been a month since our travels AND the time change, they are no longer considered a culprit for our sleep interruption. Teething has been in the running for weeks - months really - but since he still has a beautiful gummy smile this too escapes the blame (although the odds are getting better that one of these days he's bound to get a tooth and I truly can blame teething)!

I was reminded at the 6 month wellness check and in my reading that sleep issues can arise for babies around the 6 month mark as babies become more aware of their surroundings, enjoy practicing new skills day and night (which he does) and fortunately (unfortunately) develop attachment and possibly stranger anxiety issues.

BINGO (and as if on cue)! We seem to have more attachment than stranger anxiety right now - phew. But I've seen some foreshadowing, in recent days, to the latter issue.

So, among other things, I'm quite sure that Kinetic Boy has developed a fondness of his mother (mother also translates to milk in baby language) and would prefer her company at night to that of his own in his quiet, dark, lonely room. Who can blame him? I'm just too lovable, I guess?

The unveiled source of the sleep problem: Kinetic Momma (or Kinetic Momma's milk)!


Here's the positive side - it can be kind of cute. For example, the other day I put my kinetic son down for a nap and after chatting away for a few minutes, he became silent. I happen to have a baby monitor with a video screen for 24/7 viewing opportunities (which according to my dad is actually spying - but that's another story altogether). Anyway, for over an hour I didn't hear a peep, but every time I looked (ok, maybe I was spying), he was wiggling, turning, grabbing, kicking and basically doing gymnastics in his crib. This is becoming a more frequent occurrence. This time was different, however. At the end of the hour, I went in and Peyton had turned his body 90 degrees and moved it as far north as he could go in the crib. Now stuck, he was happily chewing his binky (another new skill: he can now locate a lost binky in his crib and poke it into the correct orifice, an attempt at independence, and a small step towards soothing himself). He had the most tired, glossy eyes, but the grin was priceless!

So, Sleep Train is back on track...sort of. Right after we returned from Maui we vowed, once again, to solve the problem before it got worse. So, we mustered the courage and put on our hard shells of armor before heading out to battle for a few L O N G nights. We sought advice, read our sleep book and made our plan.

No feedings or soothings before midnight. Period. To start.

It actually wasn't that bad, at first. He would chat or cry for only a few minutes during naps and bedtime before settling into a sleep. Then, it got worse. Much worse. He wouldn't stay asleep. He started to wake up each hour, almost to the minute, wail, then settle back to sleep. Each hour the self settling started taking a little longer - for each of us. He would fall to sleep between cries, I would not. So, here we are again, I now don't settle until after a midnight feeding only to have my slumber abruptly interrupted again around 4 or 5 to feed Peyton, at 6ish when Steve gets up, and so the story goes...

If it sounds like I'm whining, I am. I'm irritable, tired and yes, I am whining, if only for a moment. It's tough to be a hard ass! To curb the irritability and to work on another hard ass, of sorts, I have started working out again. Both projects: sleep and strength are tough, will get worse before better, make me more tired and on some days seem hardly worth the effort. But I'm confident I will reap the benefit of both in the end. Wish me luck!