Saturday, November 15, 2008

Wake Up Baby!

There are two types of parents when it comes to baby sleep habits - those who will do anything to get baby to sleep on their own, and those that will do anything to get baby to sleep period. Before Kaylani was born, I thought I was in the getting baby to sleep on their own camp, and if you've been reading alone, you've seen that we've tried to get her down by herself.

Well last night, we did it. We swaddled her up tighter then a frank in a blanket, swayed her to sleep with a technique that I've perfected, and put her in her pack and play in our room at 9:30. We made our nightly "contingency plans" to see who woke up first, who did what when, and how to do it, said a little prayer, kissed good night, and went to sleep. At 11, I woke first to nothing. The only thing I could hear was the quiet hum of our humidifier. Mommy woke next around 12:15, also to nothing. She even woke me up to tell me that there was no sound. 1am rolls around and still nothing. At 1:30, mommy gave in and went over to the pack and play to make sure Kaylani was still breathing (luckily the answer was yes).

Around 2, Kaylani finally stirred enough for us to pick her up and cuddle with her for a bit before she nursed. She went back down a little after 2, and stayed there until 4:30. Didn't wake again until 8 when I took her downstairs with me and held her on me as I watched Sportscenter. I laid her next to me on the couch and the nerve of her...she stayed asleep!

Today, Abuela came to stay with us, so we took a trip to the Philadelphia airport (about 45 min away). And what did Kaylani do to us in the car? NOTHING! She stayed asleep pretty much the whole time! We came home, fed her, and swaddled her back up, just to let her rest for a bit before Abuela could play with her. Well Abuela didn't get that chance for 3 hours since Kaylani wouldn't wake up! We even tried loud TV, blowing gently on her, moving her just a bit to get her to stir. Nothing.

So it's now 7:30pm, and in the last 24 hours, she's slept for 20 of them, and only 1 of them have been in my arms. I'm now starting a third group of sleep habit parents - those who want their baby to stay awake so they can play with them. Okay, so maybe this third group exists already, but I'm going to move it into the sleep habit groups. I want to be able to cuddle with my baby whenever I want, and I sure can't do that if they go off and do things like sleep on their own!

I wasn't expecting my daughter to ignore me for at least 8 years, and that was when I was going to be cheesy and not funny to her. I think I'm going to have to do something about this. I'm not sure what yet, but I WILL get my daddy-daughter time back. You just wait and see.

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