How are we sleeping with our 5-months old baby?

Sleep, or the lack of, is one of the decisive factors that determine how enjoyable life with a baby is. I’d go as far as to say it probably has an impact on family sizes too! When I’ve slept well, in relative (mum) terms at least, I truly love being a mum and being on maternity leave! I play with Maia, take her to places, we see friends and attend baby classes. I start dreaming about a big family and imagining how it would be like to be pregnant again and to go thought it all for the second time. But when I’ve been up every hour just to greet the day at 5.30am, it’s very different. I feel exhausted and irritable and wouldn’t want to get up from my bed but I have to because of the baby. I have less patience with Maia who demands constant entertainment. I also feel frustrated for not getting anything done but my low energy levels only allow for the bare minimum…

How do we sleep then? It varies. And if there must be bad nights, it’s better that they are sporadic because nothing is worse than cumulating sleep deprivation! The first two months with Maia were really tough but then she got into her routine and slept well for two months. Until the four-month sleep regression that is… Since then it’s really varied. When Maia reached the five-month age she started sleeping a bit better again, waking up once or twice a night, but she wanted to start the day after 5am. This was still much better than what it had been so I didn’t dare to complain.

On our short trip to Italy Maia slept remarkable well, but after coming back home we were waking up as often as six times per night! An absolute nightmare, or even worse because having nightmares at least implies sleeping. After four consecutive nights like this, I was at a breaking point. I even burst into tears when I met up with my friends – I just felt like I could no longer put on a brave face. To be honest, that outburst made me feel better and over the weekend Maia’s dad made sure I got to rest which helped too. Thankfully by Monday we were back to waking up only once (around 4am) and then getting up early.

And just like that, my life was amazing again.

Until ten days ago Maia had been sleeping in her Moses basket but she was starting to be too big for it. She kicks and wiggles so furiously that I worried the basket would fall off its stand! It was time to move her into a big girl bed. But every parent knows how scary it is to change a baby’s sleeping arrangements when you’ve found the winning formula! But with babies nothing is constant and no solution works indefinitely.

I bought Maia the Silver Cross Notting Hill cot bed as I thought it’d last her a long time – it is huge! Maia looks tiny in it! Her new bed is still next to ours. We plan to move her to her own room soon but I wanted to make the changes one at a time. Once she’s used to her new bed, then we can consider moving her next door. If I’m ready to part with her that is!

Maia was very excited about her new bed and I put her down to nap in it without a struggle. She sleeps in a baby sleep bag which I like because they are safe since Maia can’t pull it over her head and also because she can’t kick off her covers and waking herself up. Until now I have always tugged her arms in. Maia has always liked feeling snug and has slept better that way. Now however, I was worried she would roll onto her tummy and would end up with her face against the mattress without arms to push herself up. In the new bed she has plenty of room to move and I had quickly noticed her using the space! Maia cannot yet crawl but she can roll and wiggle her way around. It was time to free the arms.

The first two nights in her new bed went very well. Maia is asleep by 8pm the latest and usually never wakes up before the morning hours. I pick her up for a dream feed before I go to bed myself around 11pm, but she doesn’t fully wake up and drifts back to sleep once she’d fed enough. No matter how easy or tough the night would turn out to be, from 8pm until midnight there is peace in our home. Or was until wasn’t.

On the third evening after Maia’s move to her new bed we were sitting on the sofa watching TV, with one eye on the baby monitor. It was around 9.30pm and I had assumed Maia was fast asleep, as she usually is. We had not heard a sound from the bedroom. I glanced at the monitor out of habit – what on earth was she doing??!! We could see that Maia was wide awake with her eyes open and she was rolling around the bed from one end to the other, perfectly entertained. Finally she got stuck in a corner and I had to go rescue her. Putting Maia to sleep is rarely an issue – either I nurse her to sleep or her daddy walks around with her a bit. But this tie nothing worked. She just wanted to play and roll around. Finally I sent daddy to sleep next door and I took Maia to our bed next to me. I cuddled her and stroked her hair but otherwise ignored her. I’m not sure which of us fell asleep first but finally we slept. I had heard of babies wanting to practice their new skills and tricks during the night-time – maybe that’s what this was?

The following night she was back to normal. Or how do I even define “normal’ anymore?? Let’s just say that she was back to sleeping “ok”, waking up once for a feed and up very early in the morning. Now fingers crossed this will last for a while!

Sweet dreams!

xoxoxo,

Sini