The Baby Sleep Project: Day 1

Hannah Grace is 7 months and 2 days old. I really can't believe it. I always seem to sense time in a paradoxical way. I can't believe it has been that long, but at the same time it feels like she's just always been a part of our family. She is the joy of my heart, an unexpected blessing I am so thankful for. Hannah Grace is the youngest of our three children. We also have Elijah who will turn 5 in March and Isaiah who just turned 3. It is no easy task staying home full time with three children, and it is a job I take very seriously. Raising new people is a big deal. There is a lot to think about and to manage. I want to do it well, but at the moment we are facing an obstacle, one that is affecting every member of the family - our baby won't stay asleep.



It's not a case of "my baby won't sleep throught the night" (though she doesn't) as much as it is my baby wakes up every time I lay her down, or everytime someone makes a noise that is a little louder than a sigh, or for no obvious reason as all. She came into the world a fairly decent sleeper, her first night in the hospital she slept better than me. She was very gassy, but as long as she got all her toots out she slept fantastically, and by the first week was sleeping a 5 hour stretch from midnight to 5 am. From what I have read, this is the medical definition of sleeping through the night. She took nice long naps several times a day, but from 8pm to 12pm was up and down like a jack-in-the box.



From there things have gotten worse and worse from getting particular about how she falls asleep (nursing only) to refusing to stay asleep unless held and sometimes not even then. Hannah Grace's erratic sleep is throwing life into a tizzy for everyone in the Hawkins household. We attempt to keep regular nap/bedtimes, but the current state of things makes it impossible.



Imagine the scenario, I'm holding my baby, she's almost asleep, hopefully on the edge of an hour long nap during which I might actually get some laundry folded, just minutes after her eyes close they pop open to the sound of screaming in the next room because one brother has done who knows what to the other. I can't ignore the screaming child. The result: baby awake, naptime over. She will not settle back down immediately. The next two hours are mostly spent carrying around a baby who is fussy from being overtired. I attempt to do everything one handed or wear her in the carrier. Finally she's been awake long enough to attempt another nap. She falls asleep. I lay her down. Ten minutes later she's awake. (This is not because she only needed a cat nap. See Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child or any respectable book on children and sleep for confirmation of that fact). The story continues with me failing to meet the needs of my older children and my spouse, and we won't even make mention of the state of our house! When night comes she continues her completely erractic pattern of sleep/wake/sleep/wake continues. One night may be great the next terrible. I realize erractic sleep patterns are par for newborns, and even older babies may need to eat during the night after a stretch of several hours, that is not what we're talking about here.



When I had one child I was able to take the "this too shall pass" approach and have "patience" with his challenges since my life could revole around him, and did it ever! With a houseful of people dependent on me, this is simply not an option, at least not an option through which our family will thrive. Not only am I failing to meet the needs of her siblings, I am failing Hannah Grace. She needs healthy sleep to thrive, and it is my goal to help her find it. I don't want to spend her naptime holding her, and then spend her wake time frantically trying to accomplish the bare necessities around the house. I want to spend that time investing in my sweet baby. Over the next several days I commit to sort out my philosophy of infants and sleep, make a plan, and carry it out for the good of us all!