The New Normal

Charlotte is nothing if not consistent.  Every night for the past 4 nights, like clockwork, she wakes up hungry at 2AM and then at 6AM.  It's pretty eerie, actually.  This doesn't seem to matter whether she goes to bed at 8 (her normal bedtime) or later.  On Monday, we went out to dinner for a friend's birthday and didn't get Charlotte to bed until 9:30.  Two o'clock rolls around and there's that crying on the monitor!  Now, two weeks ago, I was a wreck with this change in sleeping, but it's become the new normal.  After I feed her at 6AM, she falls back to sleep on our bed and I get ready for the day.  So technically it's only one nighttime feeding, but it's still strange that she went from consistently sleeping 8 hour stretches to now not going more than 6 hours at one time.  I've done a lot of researching online and a general consensus is that at four months, babies just start undergoing major developmental changes and this affects their normal sleep habits.  Of course this had to coincide with my going back to work, which might be a coincidence or it might not be.  All in all, it's really not so bad.  She forces me to actually get to work early, which is a good thing. 

My Thoughts on Co-Sleeping

I've also read that when you go back to work, it's not uncommon for the breastfed baby to start waking up at night to get some extra quality time with mom.  The solution in this book I bought by Dr. Sears was super preachy -- something along the lines of "the experienced mother will just accept this new routine and enjoy this new bonding time with her baby."  So when I read this, it was 2AM on one of the nights I was frustrated and crying, and I literally threw the book across the room.  How dare you tell me that I'm supposed to just accept sleeplessness in the middle of the night when my baby used to be such a great sleeper?  This is also the same book that suggests that adoptive mothers can breastfeed their adopted babies if they just "try" hard enough, and that working mothers should bring their babies to work and "wear" them (please tell me which place of employment allows you to bring your baby to work).  And that the solution is co-sleeping with your baby.  Now, I'm not opposed to co-sleep per se, but the thing is, I can't sleep when Charlotte's in the bed with us.  She moves a lot, and I just can't settle down knowing I might pull the covers over her head and smother her.  So that's why we don't co-sleep.  Wait, let me rephrase this. That's why I don't co-sleep.  Charlotte and her daddy sleep just fine together. :)

So in sum, we're coping.  I'm definitely a little more tired than I'd like, but I actually get up in the morning and have time to take a shower, eat breakfast, actually blowdry my hair, all while Charlotte blissfully sleeps off her 6AM feeding (her daddy is also often sleeping still!).  And of course, my heart melts when we finally wake her up for the day and she just grins and grins like you're the best thing since sliced bread.