Sunday, January 16, 2011

In a Funk

Lately I have been in a funk where I don't feel like doing much. It might be the colder weather, or the cranky baby that refuses to sleep. Or it could be something totally different. I'm not too sure. All I know is that I need to find some way to get myself out of it.

Sarah has never been a stellar sleeper. She still wakes at night at least one time if not more. Recently, she has gotten much worse. I have to fight her for hours for every nap and bedtime. It's exhausting for both of us and extremely stressful. The problem is that nothing seems to work. If I leave her in her crib to cry it out she will scream for however long I let her. I can walk with her, pat her, sing to her, play music, have white noises going, rock her, or leave her alone. She can be tired enough that she has a hard time keeping her eyes open, but she won't fall asleep. She does everything in her power to stay awake. She can be almost asleep with her eyes closed and everything and then she suddenly wakes up. She tosses her head back, her whole body goes rigid and she starts screaming all over again.

Being a stay at home mom makes this a HUGE issue for me. I worry and stress every day about nap times. I know it's going to be a battle so it puts me on edge for the entire day.  The stress of nap times in combination with this colder weather has us kind of homebound. We rarely leave because Sarah's naps are so unpredictable these days. On top of that, my car does not drive well when the roads are anything but dry. So if there is even a bit of snow on the ground there is a chance I could get stuck somewhere. Plus I just don't feel like it's a good idea to take a small baby out into cold weather just because I have cabin fever.

These stresses have been adding up and just making me a perpetual grump. I feel like I am constantly complaining,but I have no idea how to fix any of it. I know that I need to just suck it up and start going to the store or something so that our routine is changing a bit. Maybe that can fix both mine and Sarah's problems. If I am bored being at home then maybe she is too. But I am open to any suggestions on how to get Little Miss No Nap to sleep. Until then we'll both have dark circles under our eyes.

3 comments:

Nikki said...

I definitely think you guys need to get out a little. I'm not sure where you live, but maybe you could load Sarah up in the car. You could grab a coffe and an audio book and jump on the belt loop around your city. If it's anything like where I live, it takes about an hour to get all the way around and the road is almost always clear. That way the little one can sleep and you can enjoy coffee and a book.

I hope it gets better soon.

Kristin said...

Does she have any allergies? Waking up screaming like that can be a sign of cow protein intolerance. Does she have reflux. Sorry you have a poor sleeper. I do too, I'm up usually 4x a night to nurse my 5 mo old back to sleep. It's exhausting. Hang in there.

Lindsey said...

We don't have any known allergies. She tolerated cow protein while I was pumping for her. And no reflux. She just really hates sleep. The pediatrician just wants us to let her cry it out but it breaks my heart. It is exhausting.