Sleeping is so important to me. However, since I have this little one which I need to breastfeed on demand, I'm used to wake up few times at night to feed her, to the extent that if she doesn't wake up for feed, I'll still wake up to check on her, or change her diaper. But, I still cannot stand not sleeping till late at night. This little fella can fuss from 10.30pm when I off the light all the way till 3am... then only she's willing to sleep in her cot..! It's really a nightmare for me. Another time, she fussed from 3am all the way to 5am with no reason. I fed her, changed her diaper, made sure she's not too hot or too cold but she still fussed. I almost dieded. Mother in law came and help to comfort her and till 5am, guess she's too tired and she fell asleep finally!
I read up the internet / any books regarding baby sleep almost everyday during my confinement and try the methods suggested. So, after I brought her back to Penang, I make sure I open all curtains in the day time, on the radio / mp3 to make it not so quiet to let her know that it's now day time, and by 9pm I'll start to wipe her, feed her, carry her, but no talking, dim the lights, no noise (EG and I will be whispering) and try to sleep her to tell her that it's sleeping time now. It's a battle everyday. And I make sure she doesn't sleep so much in the day time esp. after 7pm. I'll do everything to wake her up - until the extent to wipe her face with wet towels. Kesian my baby right. But thank God so far she can sleep by 1am. But still we're not very happy about it esp. She'll wake up and fuss or ask for feed. And slowly she has dark circles on both of her eyes. :(
We later found out that it might be caused by evening colic. After the recommendation from my babysitter (yeah, I actually called up to ask for advice :P), EG went to pharmacy and bought Dentinox Colic Drops for infants as he also heartache see me try so hard to sleep this little monster every night. I also applied ru yi oil on her tummy to relieve her tummy pain caused by colic (though I'm not sure if it's really working but I just do everything that might help). So, so far, at least both me and EG can get 6 hours of sleep with some wakes in middle of course.
EG still wasn't very happy because he expects her to sleep through. Everytime when Eunice wakes up and make a little sound, the light sleeper EG will also wake up and look at her moving around in her cot. He said he pity her not able to sleep. And sometimes he'll actually go carry her and try to sleep her for 1 hour - which I stop him after he did it once as it might make it a habit for Eunice to sleep in the future. As long as baby doesn't cry, we shouldn't carry her esp. at night during sleeping time.
I then try to find some lullabies online. It works in the day time (or maybe she's just napping), but it doesn't work during night time. Argh... So I gave up, but I stick to the routine - wipe, change to pyjamas, carry & swing a bit, feed, and expect her to sleep soon.
When we see Dr Dan for checkup, of course we raised this concern. Dr Dan told us she's a baby. About sleeping through the night for 7-8 hours, Dr Dan said she's a 5 wks old baby and he doesn't expect her to sleep more than 3 hours a stretch. And her senses to differentiate day and night will only be activated in 3rd or 4th months. When I told him I tried to not let her sleep so much during day time, he asked "Why... just let baby sleep. She's just a baby..."
Guess both EG and I forgot the fact that Eunice is only a 5 wks old baby (though we felt it has been SO LOOOONG) and we should really give her a break and let her be a baby... :)..
But still, my sleep training still go on (just with less expectation) so that both me and EG can have some sleep at night!
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