Post by abitofashout on Jan 5, 2013 11:33:57 GMT -5
I let her nurse if she seems to need it. She sleeps kind of like I do (terribly), and sometimes just picking her up (or letting husband do it) is enough, but not usually. I just imagine her having the 8-month-old equivalent of my insomnia monologue: "Fuck, I can't go back to sleep. If I make noise, I'll wake everyone else up, but if I don't, I won't get what I need and then I'll be pissed and miserable tomorrow." It adds anxiety to whatever else is going on (hungry/thirsty/need to pee), but I have the skills to manage it on my own and get what I need for myself. She doesn't, so whatever it seems like she might need, I give her, progressing from snuggles and a position change, to a new diaper (second priority b/c changing her always wakes her up more for a bit), to a feeding. One of the three almost always works. My secret weapon is side-lying nursing and co-sleeping for the rest of the night, but we don't do that often.
I don't know. Lately, I've been looking at her needs as those of a tiny human, and it's been working a lot better than treating them as something as inscrutable as those of a Martian. If that's wrong, well, fuck it because it works and keeps my girl pretty damn happy and chill.
I've been struggling with this, too. She was a fantastic sleeper from 2 months on and then teething threw a wrench into that. She finally got back into a groove but now seems to be getting up 1 or 2 times a night.
I start getting anxious and wonder how I will deal with this after a year old and I'm done nursing? That has led me to try and have DH calm her first. She's usually good with him since milk is not an option. I'm hoping she gets back on track since DH will be back to work Monday and I would feel guilty having him get up if he works in the am since I'm still on mat leave.