6.17.2006

The Great Regression

Kenz seems to have done some major backsliding in the sleep department the past few nights. She started by waking up and INSISTING on eating two times one night, something she has not done since she was a few weeks old. The next night Grandma and Grandpa had the idea to try and keep her up later - makes sense, right? If she's up later, she'll be more tired and sleep later... well, it's better in theory than it turned out to be in reality. The third night our conversation went something like this - Mom: "I hope Kenzie sleeps better tonight." Me: "Oh, I'm sure she will - it can't get much worse, right?" Wrong. Last night she was up at 1:00, 3:30, 5:30, and 7:00. And of course at 3:30 I couldn't locate the binky in the dark crib and ended up knocking it against the wall, where it took both Matt and I (plus a hanger) to get it out. By the time we finally retrieved it, Kenzie had reached MAJOR MELTDOWN crying. Oh well - we are hoping it's just a phase - I'm sure we'll look back on this and miss all of the quality time we shared in the wee hours of the morning. :) Still, if anyone has any tips, feel free to share!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Wow. I remember all of those nights really vaguely...that lack of clear memory is a defense mechanism that allows humans to have more than one child, I'm convinced!

I'd love to give you my miracle cure, but I don't believe there is one. At Kenzie's age, you just have to get through the nights - and some days - as best you can.

If it helps to know this, she is just in a little growing spurt and needs to eat more. That will continue to happen for some time.

Your mom & dad can confirm that when we visited when Annamarie was 7 months old, I was tearing my hair out because of sleep (or lack of) issues. We survived, let Ami cry it out a couple of times (an awful process), and now she goes to bed without argument and sleeps all night, almost every night. She's done that for over three years.

I have lots of friends who've tried lots of things, and nothing has worked as well the "cry it out" technique. (One friend has a 4 year old and 1 year old and neither has EVER slept throught the night....) BUT we didn't try it until she was a year old. I'd never do it with an infant. If they need to eat, they need to eat. If they need comfort, they need comfort. They aren't capable of real manipulation until at least 9 months!

Try to remember that EVERYTHING IS A PHASE, except her basic sunny nature :-)!!