Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Inverse Proportions

So, I'm not sure if this post is exactly mathematically accurate but what I do know is that it is a little after 5:30 and I am up and blogging.  Why?  Well, that is certainly a good question.  Now, my alarm was set for 5:30 as that is approximately the time Cece wakes up these days, which is quite frankly a DREAM compared to her erratic sleep behaviors for approximately the full year prior to that which would have equated to just about anyone's NIGHTMARE.

So, good news is that she sleeps now.  Her timing couldn't have been better since I returned to work and really needed the sleep.  I don't know what I would have done if her night waking had continued in quite the same manner.  So, she naps now for 2-3 hours pretty consistently mid-day and sleeps for, on average (and by average I really mean maximum) 12 hours, sometimes more like ten, usually starting at 6:30 or 7.  So, like I said a dream for we who were waking hourly with sometimes stretches of 2-3 hours for about 13 months.

 Now, with that said sometimes you get used to things and that is what we like to call a false sense of security, so 2/3 weeks ago - time is blurring together even if I'm getting better sleep....we were down the shore a-visiting and discovered that while Cecelia used to sleep better sometimes even needed us in the same room or bed in order to get quality sleep, now she NEEDS to be in a room of her own.  If she stirs in the night she will resettle herself, but NOT if there is the remote possibility of fun in the air.  So, when Jeff, Cecelia, and I shared a room at the shore, when she awoke around midnight she could not/would not/refused to resettle and sleep.  We got to 3 o'clock and I decided enough was enough.  I took her to the car, we drove (which ironically worked...not because she loves the car now but because she was exhausted.  And then when I was sure she was asleep, I pulled back in the driveway and slept in the car myself as well.  I thought about trying to bring her back in the house.  Then I thought better of that idea.  So, we learned that lesson and upon return trips to the beach slept in separate rooms.  It is amazing that in a house with 6 adults and 1 baby the only person who got a room to herself was the baby, but those 6 adults wised up to the only way that anyone was going to get some sleep was by giving her a little "privacy."

So, onto the inverse proportions.  Something else we've learned that seems to be unfortunately consistent is that the later Cecelia is awake, the earlier she wakes up in the morning.  For example, last night we had visitors over for dinner and we all stayed up and played a smidgen past bedtime.  Maybe 7:30 or so. So, as punishment from the baby gods, Cecelia woke up at 4:00 and could not be convinced to return to a sleep state with her pacifier, by closing the window, nursing, or snuggling.  Nope.  She was up for the day.  And so, alas, am I.

2 comments:

Jeffrey said...

Sounds like fun. and scientifically speaking it sounds like a "positive feedback loop." Negative feedback loops help maintain balance and homeostasis, positive feedback loops - well they just make sure the bad becomes worse.

Janey said...

We have the exact same situation with Kenny and it is apparently fairly common. A quote from one of my many sleep book is "sleep begets sleep" and it has definitely been proven by Kenny! Same thing for having to be by himself when he sleeps!!! Good luck :-)