sleeping - night #4

so. she "tanked up" just fine - without spitting or anything - but she didn't sleep all that long before waking up the first time. It was 2:30 when I gave her the pacifier. Then she woke up at 4:30. I didn't feel like I could give her the pacifier again, since it had been 7 hours, I fed her. She ate ravenously for exactly 12 minutes, and then stopped like a switched was turned off and went back to sleep. Since then she's been wanting to eat every two hours or so, and only sleeping an hour or so in between. It's hard to believe she could already be going through another growth spurt, but it sure seems that way today! Wonder how THAT will affect the night sleeping.

alertness

I have been noticing today how much more alert Judith is than she was even a few days ago. She'll watch our faces now, if we talk to her, and she her attention actually gets caught by things. This morning she and I had a very fun five minutes or so lying on the bed watching the ceiling fan (well, ok, I was watching Judith watch the fan). She cooed and gurgled and smiled up at it, while I watched the whole process with joyous wonder. I pray that I'll remember moments like these in another 10 years when she's talking back when I ask her to do something.

sleeping - night #3

I'm not sure the "tank her up" thing works so well for Judith. Maybe her little stomach just isn't ready for that much food? She gets really gassy and spits up a lot after the last feeding of the day. Last night was pretty bad - lots of screaming and buckets of spit - and it took her almost two hours to go to sleep! She was finally asleep around midnight. She didn't wake up at 4:00; she slept straight until 5:30, which means that she did go 7 1/2 hours without eating, but she was only asleep for about 5 1/2 of those hours, so I wouldn't really consider it sleeping through the night...but I guess it's another step in the process. She seemed pretty hungry at 5:30, but she fell asleep eating again, and only ate for 10 minutes. It's extremely difficult to wake her when she does that, and I'm getting a little wary of trying to "force" her to eat more, because it just seems to make her spit up. I'm really not sure what to do about that!

napping too

so I've just noticed it now, although, thinking back, it's been happening for the last couple days, but Judith is definitely napping "better" (by which, I mean that she generally goes down for a nap without a whole lot of fuss). Maybe it's because I'm following her cues (Baby Whisperer again) or maybe she's just learning that her crib is for sleeping, I don't know. But it's definitely easier on me, because, for one, she's not tired all the time, so she's happier when she IS awake, and two, I don't have to stress over hearing her cry. Very nice.

sleeping - night #2

Well, after all the sleeping yesterday, Judith was apparently a little more well-rested than the night before. She woke up at 3:00 instead of 4:00 (despite having gone to sleep at the same time), and it took her a good hour to fall back to sleep (during which time I was up to re-give her the pacifier three times). Then she slept until about 5:15, but she was definitely more hungry this morning than she was yesterday...or at least was able to stay awake longer to eat. So I'm not sure whether we're making progress or not.

Smile

Is there anything more amazing than my child's smile? Stress, fatigue, aches, worry--they all disappear when she smiles at me. Okay, maybe it's not intentional yet. That doesn't matter in the least, and I can't help but smile, coo and laugh back at her.

(Also - she has inherited her Daddy's dimples! Hooray!)

sleeping update

well. Judith made it 8 hours last night without eating. As I expected, she was awake at 4:00, but she was perfectly content to take the pacifier and snuggle with me for a few minutes before falling back asleep. (I sat in her room for a little while, praying that I was doing the right thing...and then went to back to bed and stared at the wall and prayed that I was doing the right thing.)

And she woke up at 6:00 and was ready to eat...except that she apparently wasn't as ravenous as she appeared, because she drifted off after only 10 minutes. I changed her diaper and woke her up, but she just wasn't interested in eating more. So we'll see how much she eats at the next feeding.

I'm (obviously) still a little uncertain about this. IS she getting enough food? (Everyone tells me that she'll let me know if she's hungry.) Am I just being selfish about sleep? After all, six hours (10-4) is a pretty great thing. At 6 1/2 weeks, is she too young for this? And the really big question: Is my body ever going to adjust to her eating schedule?