When I was
pregnant and even at the beginning after Noah was born I was very against
co-sleeping. I thought it could create too many problems down the road on
trying to get baby to sleep in the crib. But after a few months and many, many
sleepless nights my view changed on having baby sleep in bed with me. My mom
told me in the beginning to try getting some sleep with Noah next to me because
literally he didn’t sleep for like the first 3 months. He was a horrible
sleeper then and still is to this day. Breast feeding on demand on top of the
no sleep was exhausting. Schedules aren’t a good thing and are pretty
unrealistic to have when you are breast feeding. Breast milk is digested a lot
easier than formula so usually your baby wants to eat more often. When we moved
Noah into his own crib at first, there were periods where he would sleep 4-6
hours straight through the night and it was great. I was very proud of our
little boy. But then he would go through a growth spurt and would be up every 2
hours on the dot. Now he is still in this rut of waking up every 1.5-2 to
nurse. It’s awful and very tiring. Even though I’m a stay at home mom (SAHM),
it’s tiring; mainly because he doesn’t nap for more than 30 minutes at a time. So
I don’t get more than 1.5-2 hours of straight sleep and no sleep during the
day.
Needless to say I don’t really know how to handle it. When he
wakes up, he starts screaming and stands up in his crib right away. I’ve tried
letting him cry it out but I really believe it’s just not going to work for
him. He just gets angrier and then starts falling down in his crib and hurting
himself. I’ve tried just comforting him whether it’s rocking him or singing to
him, that doesn’t work. He gets so restless and won’t stay asleep; so I end up
nursing him and he is back to sleep in a matter of minutes. But then 2 hours
later he is awake again. Usually I can handle this for the first half of the
night but come 3-4am in the morning, I’m exhausted and tired of getting up so I
bring him in bed with us. He sleeps great then until like 8am. On nights where he just sleeps with us, he
only wakes up like twice and all I do is nurse him lying down and we are right
back to sleep. There is no getting out of bed to nurse him so I actually get a
good night of rest.
So my point in writing this blog is to give you a little idea
of what goes on in the life of the Kensinger family and to give you an idea of
what breast feeding is like for us. I wouldn’t change it for the world. We both
worked very hard to breast feed and we’ll stop when he is ready. Breast feeding
is the best thing for Noah and I know I’m giving him everything he needs to
build a strong immune system. I know not every breast feeding experience is
like this but I think it is more common that you would think. Noah is pretty
much a happy baby although teething is kicking his butt! He laughs and plays
but doesn’t sleep well. So co-sleeping right now is a must for us. And there is
nothing better than waking up in the morning to a passed out little boy. He is
just the most precious thing in the world! Usually when he wakes up, he spits
his pacifier out and starts blowing raspberries right away. It’s hilarious.
I’m a 25 year old, breast feeding, baby wearing and now
co-sleeping mom and I love every moment of it.
