The Tiredness Is Unfathomable – Evanne Ní Chuilinn on Sleep Regression and the Need for Some ZZZZZ’s…

It really is such a tease.You get to a stage where you can almost think about staying up to watch the entire Champions League programme or the 9 o'clock movie. You think, yeah I can go to bed at eleven and still get at least six hours sleep, that's plenty. You lull yourself into what now seems to be a false sense of security in your little ones' sleeping patterns, and then it strikes. I speak, my friends, of sleep regression. 

Sleepless nights is one of the most clichéed topics when it comes to Mammyhood. FTh They will tell you to nap when baby naps. Your mother will give you tips on how to get the night feed done as quickly and as efficiently as possible. Your dad may mention earplugs to your partner! 

But noone can really explain the utter disorientation that is waking up mid-slumber, only to bump your knee and trip over the toys on the way to the kitchen. Last week I missed the last two steps on the stairs, and an hour later, fell off the bed backwards while I was changing a nappy. I'm not convinced I was fully awake, but it was 4am and I had just started back at work. The tiredness is just unfathomable. 

My little man was sleeping through the night at about 5 or 6 months. He would go down at about 7 and wake again 11 or 12 hours later, fully refreshed. We were in heaven. I dared stay up a bit later, we went to the cinema and didn’t panic about hitting the sack on the other side of midnight.  

So naturally enough, as any mother would, I’ve been making all sorts of excuses for him since that nocturnal routine went out the window. “He’s got a cold, I’ve just gone back to work, he’s got a cold again”. But as it turns out, I’m not alone. Babies fundamentally change their sleeping patterns at around 4 months, and they regress for a few weeks. But Séimí is nearly 8 months. This week though, I read that at about 7 months, babies can begin to develop separation anxiety, and this can affect how they sleep! I’m no expert but you’d imagine that Mammy’s return to her full time job would be enough to induce some form of separation anxiety, no matter how mild.  And that’s not all. Babies of about 7 or 8 months are learning lots of new behaviours like eating, chewing, sitting up, crawling, standing (or wobbling), and all this learning affects how they sleep. It’s almost like as if they just can’t switch off their over active brains! Eureka. So I’ve isolated the problem. 

Ahem. Unfortunately, understanding the problem doesn’t fix it. Knowing that the wee man is computing all these new behaviours doesn’t make it any easier to get up at 3am, and then 6am. And being back at work means no more mid morning naps for me. My sister in law has taught her 6-month-old twins to feed themselves. The little cuties sit in their recliners and hold their own bottles. Genius. My plan this week is to teach my little man how to update his little baby database during daylight hours. 

 

How hard can it be?!

Now where’s that TV Guide…..

 

Chat next week friends

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