Sleep No More

A few months ago I had figured out the delicate art of getting your baby to sleep when you want, where you want, and how long you want.  At a mere three months old, my babe was sleeping through the night, taking long naps in the day, and falling asleep without any aid from me.  I was a baby whisper genius!  I shared with all of you how freaking easy it was to get your baby to sleep on your schedule and told you all my tricks! (The full post is here.)

I have since learned that I know nothing.  It was all a fluke,

You see, June has decided she's done with the good sleeper business.  It was fun while it lasted, but you know what's more fun?  Being awake!  In the middle of the night!  Because you never know when you might miss something!

It's already pretty apparent that June has quite the extroverted personality.  She loves being around people, lets anyone hold her, and loves nothing more than to go to a crowded place and people watch to her heart's delight.  The problem with all that is June likes people SO much that she doesn't want to go to sleep.  I think she thinks she's missing a party. (She might be a bit like her mama in that regard.)

The biggest change in June's sleeping has been at night.  June will go to sleep fine at around 7:00, but then at 11:00 or so she is awake again.  She eats and goes back down, but then whaddya know?  3:00 am and June is wondering if it's time to start the party yet?!  She eats, she goes back down.  6:00 am!  Surely it's time to wake up now?!?!?

June has been doing this for the few weeks- waking up two or more times a night.  Two months ago she was sleeping through the night consistently.  Last night June woke up four different times.  FOUR!  She wasn't even pulling that crap the night she came home from the hospital.  The older she gets, the worse sleeper she becomes.

I don't know why June is doing this, but I have some theories.  One is the above listed- that June is social and just likes to be around people.  She wakes up, sees no one is around, and demands a party.  As she becomes more and more aware, she enjoys sleep less and less because she'd rather be socializing.

Another theory is that June is now quite the rolly-poly and that this is affecting her sleep.  She could roll all day long if you let her.  Back to stomach to back to stomach, let's go!  When she wakes up in her crib she immediately flips over to her stomach.  Most times she stays on her stomach, lifting her body up with her hands and crying because, well, this position sucks!  Other times she will roll herself right to the corner of the crib, get herself good and wedged between a bunch of hard crib slats and then start screaming.

Another theory is that June is not sleeping as well because she is breaking out of her swaddle.  Tell me, how do you wean a baby from a swaddle?  There are no books for these things!  Since the day she was born, June has loved a good, snug swaddle.  Even now, it is absolutely how she would like to be put down.  But now she wakes up, starts to squirm, breaks out of her swaddle and starts to cry.  She is no longer snug and secure, and she can't sleep until Greg or I go into her room and swaddle her back up and place her on her back.  The madness!

As of right now I am waking up at least twice in the night and swaddling and feeding June back to sleep.  Part of me feels guilty when I am doing this- that I am nourishing a dependency on mama (and on mama's bosom) to be able to fall back asleep.  I am doing myself no favors, instead creating a needy baby who demands to be nursed twice in the night to fall back asleep. I know June can go through the night without nursing.  She's did it for weeks straight for me.  So do I leave her in the crib when she wakes up in the middle of the night?  I usually give her 10-20 minutes before I go in to get her- am I supposed to wait even longer than that?  Let a baby cry for an hour at 4 am?

This is the part of the blog post where you answer all my questions and tell me how to get my perfect angel sleeping baby to turn back into a perfect angel sleeping baby.  She goes to sleep fine, it is the staying asleep that is about to make me go crazy.  Do I let her cry?  Will she learn to fall asleep without being swaddled?  Or I am to be a slave to middle of the night nursings until the day I die?  Someone tell me what to doooooooooooo.