Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Sleep Regression?

Has anyone heard of sleep regression in 8/9-month-olds? I have been doing some research because Brooke hasn't been sleeping great these last few nights, which is contrary to what she's done the rest of her life. My sister said that Nathan went through it and she let me to a website that had some information on the matter.

The website (I think it's Moxie's Blog??) said that around 8-9 months, babies are having a growth spurt which causes them to obviously be more hungry. Also at this time, many babies are teething and/or learning so many new things that there body is just reacting to the change by changing their sleeping patterns. The website said that whenever babies are learning to crawl (or in our case cruise, stand up unassisted, walk) their minds are just so full that whenever they wake up it's all they can wrap their tiny little brains around. They continually want to improve their new found skill, which makes going back to sleep a difficult task for them. It makes sense to me. It really does!

I can't complain too, too much about Brooke's sleep in these recent nights because it hasn't been as awful as some other women have reported. She used to go to bed at 8 and wake up around 4 to eat. I thought that was fantastic. The last week or so she's been waking up a 12 to eat, and she's not looking for comfort here, she's HUNGRY. I then put her back in her crib and she's up at sometimes at 1 or 2. This is the baby who's slept through the night since she came home from the hospital. I'm seriously walking around like a zombie because I'm not used to having to deal with this!

Brooke's also waking up around 7. I'm used to her easily sleep past 9. I'm OK with her waking up early as long as she's going to sleep around 8 or so. I'll adjust to her early risings soon enough.. It's not like I have a choice!

Because Brooke's been biting me so much and I've had to scold her, I do think that she's on somewhat of a "nursing strike." She hasn't been all that into nursing these last few days.. So much so that it scares. She's been hardly ever crying to nurse. She might nurse if I offer it to her, but even then she'll arch her back and pull away. It's like I have to fight with her to eat. The first day she did this I didn't offer her a lot of baby foods because I wanted her to NEED the nurtrients from my milk to fill her belly. However, the other day when she only had 2 wet diapers all day, I gave her extra baby food and she had an entire container of peas and an entire thing of Yo Baby. Normally she gets one solid feeding a day and even then I'm shocked if she eats a half of a container of a fruit or vegetable. I don't get her sometimes! Anyways, I say all that to say that I'm thinking that because Brooke isn't nursing like she should in the day, nighttime is the only time that she can "fit it in."

I'm truly hoping that in the next few days Brooke will start to revert back to her ways of sleeping (and nursing) like a champ. That would be absolutely wonderful!! Wish me luck!

If anyone has any thoughts on this, please let me know. It's a little bit frustrating!

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