Separation Anxiety

My sweet bunny is going through a very strange time right now.  We're dealing with some pretty insane separation anxiety, mainly during his afternoon naps.

Before, he would wake up around 9, take a nap at 10 or 11, get up again around 11 or noon, take another nap around 2 or 3 (this is the solid, 2 hour one I can depend on), and a small cat nap around 8, especially if his earlier nap was abnormally short or early.  Bed around 10:30.  We're on a late schedule as a family anyway, so this works for us (and our pediatrician).

Now, he takes his morning nap (because Daddy is almost always the one who puts him down for that one) and no more.  I got him to sleep for a total of 45 non-consecutive minutes in each of the last two days.  He does not like it if I put him down to sleep.  When Jason and I are both home, Jason can get him to sleep, but I can't.  If Jason tries to do anything with him when I'm home, Elliott is either distracted by me or gets upset if he watches me leave the room.

It wouldn't be too bad if I wasn't in the throws of midterm week.  I have A LOT of grading to do with grades due on the 12th.  If I don't get the time do complete my work, I get very stressed.  Forget the other projects.  I use the little time I have now to do quick clean-ups and make food, and most of that is while he's in his high chair.

Does anyone have advice for me?  Re-reading the above makes it sound like I'm the one suffering, but it's only because Elliott is so distraught.  Help?

- J & M.

Winter Blues.

While I love having four seasons here in PA, I hate the weather and the general atmosphere between mid-January and mid-March.  It's even worse this year because we've had so little snow.  Snow days usually help boost my spirits, but alas.  It's a little too cold to take E out in the stroller, and by the time I get settled at home and he gets up from his nap, it's getting dark.  Booo.

We're also trying to "sleep train" E.  He's a pretty good sleeper who seldom needs help getting back to sleep if he wakes during the night.  If he does, it's because his teeth are bothering him.  However, for him to go to sleep, we have to rock him for sometimes up to an hour.  It was a little annoying at first, but now he's pushing 20 pounds and just is getting too heavy to hold like that.  We attempted the Ferber method last night, but Jason gave in about an hour in because E hadn't gotten much sleep the night before and figured we should start fresh.  We'll start with nighttime, then hopefully (according to my mom), naps should follow suit.  I hate hearing him cry, but he needs to learn to self-soothe.  This is a controversial topic with moms, but this is how I feel.

I read an article today about a new book called "Bringing up Bebe," which is about French parenting techniques and how Americans could probably stand to use them.  I was already planning on doing a lot of the things she suggested, such as teaching the importance of waiting, patience, and entertaining one's self.  French parents tend not to let their children rule their lives and identities, but rather teach the child to be a part of the family unit.  Now, France has a lot of laws that also help families out, such as quality free schooling from pre-school on and quality free health care.  This allows families to spend more time together, since 2 incomes aren't necessary to get by.  It's an interesting thought.

Elliott has his 6 month check up next week (the day after he turns 7 months...the whole schedule is off).  I hope the doctor feels that we are doing as well as we think we are!

- J & M etc.

Zzzzz...

In my last post I discussed Elliott's sleep issues.  We took the advice of many of our friends and family, and we seem to be finding success.

We now have a pre-bed routine.  It sometimes includes a bath (other times he gets a bath before a nap...either way: bath = sleep).  It always includes a story, then a bottle with just a nightlight on.  The last three nights he has fallen asleep pretty easily that way.  Tonight, though, since I was the one putting him to bed, he wasn't happy until he nursed again.  He's asleep now, but he's stirring...

Saturday into Sunday he slept 9:45p to 7:40a, and Sunday into today he slept 9:00p to 6:30a.  It's awesome and I hope it lasts for a little while.  :)

- J & M.

Sweet Sleep

Sleep has been on our minds a lot this week.

We spent the Labor Day holiday with our families, staying at my parents' house.  Elliott got carried around by everyone, especially my dad.  It was wonderful to see our families and friends, since this was the first time we had gone to Harrisburg since Elliott was born.

However, since this weekend, Elliott has not been sleeping as well as before.  His naps are all over the place, if he even takes one, and getting him to sleep at night is difficult.  Jason generally takes bedtime duty, although I've been trying to get E to sleep earlier (Jason doesn't get home until 11pm certain nights!).

Someone mentioned to me that around 8 and 9 weeks, babies have what is called "a wonder week," in which they are making a huge developmental leap forward, and may exhibit regressive behaviors to deal with the new skills or stimuli.  If this is the case, we'll just keep on doing what we are doing and wait for it to pass.  Otherwise, I'm not sure if we need to change his bedtime routine.

Tonight took hours.  We think gas was the culprit, but we're not sure.

On the plus side, once he does get to sleep, he stays down for 6 or so hours.

- J & M.