Okay, what gives?

Last night Samuel slept from 6:30 until 2:00 am! 7 1/2 hours! However the night before he slept three hours. The night before that he slept 7 hours and the night before that he slept 4. He is 16 weeks this Friday and we aren't even close to any kind of consistent night sleep pattern. We have a bed time routine and he goes down without any protest. But that is where the consistency ends.

In fact it kind of feels like we have taken some steps back. At 6 weeks of age is when it was hardest for us. His crying was at a peak and he never seemed to sleep. I feel like we are there again. And what makes this so hard is that I had thought we had turned a corner. For about 2 weeks he was napping great and sleeping an average of 6 hours his first stretch not waking until three hours after that. He was better rested and in such a better mood during the day. Now he may sleep 3 hours or 4 hours or even 7 hours some nights, but he is up again after an hour or two hours sometimes.

The one good nap I could count on everyday, his morning nap, has also seem to be nothing more than a fond memory. I am lucky to get a solid strait hour out of him now, whereas before he would sleep 3-4 hours! Yesterday I think he may have slept a total of 2 hours. AALLLL DAY! An hour in the am and then a 15 minute cat nap here, a 30 minute nap there. And I had to be holding him for him to sleep. The moment I put him down he was up. That is also a new problem.

Now this may not be such a stressful point with me if he was in a decent mood. Or if I could entertain him and keep him happy. But as it turns out if my child is tired and doesn't sleep he is EXTREMELY fussy. To the point I am scared to get out of my apartment with him because when he has these meltdowns it takes a while to calm him down. And in order to calm him down I have to basically hold him in a bear hug, bounce him while I pace and pace and pace.Sometimes I have to put a blanket covering his eyes. It's not easy and it isn't pretty. And even then it can take 20 minutes to calm him down. It's a process. And when he gets this way, he doesn't just cry. It would be better described as hysteria. When people, family, friends see him act this way they think he is in pain. I am 100% that he is just simply exhausted, but he just wont or doesn't know how to just give in and go to sleep without major assistance.

When he is well rested he is the happiest baby.. He is constantly smiling and cooing. I can usually catch that 'window' when he is getting drowsy but not yet overly tired. I take him to his room, rock him and sing softly to him. He gets drowsy and I put him down. 10 minutes later all hell brakes loose.

Sometimes I totally miss that window. One moment he will be smiling and playing and in half a second he is screaming his little head off.

When I talk to other people about this I don't think they fully understand. They think I am exaggerating or that I must be doing something wrong. It's not until people witness his fits that they see why I am ALWAYS home and would just rather stay here so I can deal with him in privacy. In fact we have an appointment with a design consultant today at 1:00 and I am a wreck with nerves about how Samuel will be. It's totally a coin toss.

I understand babies get fussy and they cry. But what Samuel does is beyond that. It almost takes an act of God to get him settled down. I just expected to be past this stage at 4 months of age.

And I feel totally alone with this problem. How is it that I am the only one who has a child that completely freaks out because they are overly tired? I talk to other moms about this and no one seems to have had this problem.

God help us. And my poor boy. I know he is miserable. I want him to sleep more for his benefit than mine. Yea, the lack of sleep isn't fun, but I can deal with it. He is just a baby and he needs his sleep. I feel so bad for him.

I think I am going to have to try the dreaded cry it out method. We did that for his night time sleep and he does go to sleep on his own now. That only took 3 days and the longest he cried was the first night one hour. I just don't want to do that for his naps. His doctor said he should be taking three naps a day. If I put him in his crib and let him cry (during the day they say don't let them cry for any more than one hour for each assigned nap time), that is going to be a lot of crying. And it may be days before he gives in and sleeps. But I don't know what else to do. Something has to give. We are both miserable during the day. I feel like we are missing out on so much quality time. He is growing up so fast I so desperately want the both of us to enjoy this time.


We have is 4 month check up next week. I am going to talk to the doctor about what I should do. I know though he is going to tell me to put him in his crib and ignore him if he starts crying before it's been an hour. He told us to do that when he was only 8 weeks and I just felt like he was too young to do that. Now that he is four months I feel like I really need to get a handle on this problem so we can get past it and both be happier.