After the trauma of birthing a large baby, I took comfort in a comment I heard from everyone: Bigger babies sleep through the night sooner. I heard this little nugget of wisdom so many times I thought it was a irrefutable fact. Four months into this baby thing I can now say with confidence: You are all liars.
Bigger babies have bigger appetites and need to spend more time eating and less time sleeping is more accurate.
Little Fella wakes at least once, sometimes twice, during the night. He's not just hungry, he's ravenous. Now I'm hearing from those same people: Let him cry it out. He's big enough. He doesn't need to eat. Sounds great, but I don't think crying it out makes hunger go away.
So, here I am, four months into this baby thing, not sleeping much and lugging around an 18 pound giant baby. At this rate, I'm going to lose my mind from the lack of sleep, become addicted to caffeine, and need some serious physical therapy to correct the damage in my muscles and tendons.
Now, I'm off to pour my third cup of coffee for the day.
10 comments:
I'm probably one of those liars! Maybe we just say that to console you for having to push out a big baby!
Here's another commonly held belief: Start him on solids to fill him up. I don't know if it works, but it may be worth a try!
At least you have caffeine (and he is adorable, chubby cheeks and all - he'll be bigger than Annie in a few more months!!)
Oh, poor you! I'm with you on the sleep thing. Not sleeping sucks! But eventually he WILL sleep better! It might take a couple of months -- but in the whole long scheme of life it isn't THAT long. Have you ever thought of co-sleeping? It isn't everyone's cuppa tea, but it helped me to feel more rested in the morning. ...
And lori is right: he is definately adorable!
There are a great many lies about motherhood in my limited experience.
Cheers [wishing you a few extra sniffs of sleep]
Thanks for the advice and support!
Lori- We just recently started him on solids. He LOVES to eat and is so impatient that he cries if I don't spoon it into his mouth fast enough.
Christine- Not sleeping makes me feel crazy. I have been bringing him into bed with me if he wakes up around 4:30. That does help a little bit.
Mcewen- Yes, there are many lies. I suspect that no one tells the truth for fear of scaring people away from parenthood.
I'm with Maddy (mcewan) it's all lies. No one ever tells you the truth and everyone loves to spew cliches--I guess me included.
The only thing that is true is that this will pass and then you'll have something else to keep you up nights, because I'm pretty sure we don't get to sleep straight through until we're grandparents.
Kristen- You are so right. Since I am a chronic worrier, I definitely have many sleepless nights ahead of me. I guess I better get used to it !
Hi...
Just stopped by to say I tagged you for a meme, here:
http://fromherethereandback.blogspot.com/2007/11/lucky-seven.html
Kristen- My first meme! Thanks for including me! Can you tell I'm excited?!
You're right, it's SO not true. One of my boys weighed 21 pounds at 4 months and he most certainly did NOT sleep through the night. He was ravenous! And the thing about solids - well, yes, he loved them but no, they didn't help him sleep. May you be luckier!!
Jordan- Thanks for stopping by! 21 pounds?! Yikes!
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