Tired
So, I am making no secret of it: Three didn’t throw me off too much, but four is making up for it.
I had my first-ever bout with baby blues after Knox was a couple months old. Thanks to a couple different friends’ and my midwife’s recommendations, I tried a B-12 sublingual vitamin (Costco had it, and it was much cheaper than the B shot) and after 4 days I felt noticeably better. After 2 weeks I stopped taking it and within a couple weeks I realized that wasn’t such a good idea quite yet. I am on day 5 now of taking it again consistently.
And, finally, after looking into other food or supplement or exercise or system or something that might help snap me out of it, it dawned on me: I sleep in 2-3 hour segments almost every night. Sometimes Knox only sleeps an hour and a half. And he’s hungry. Even if he would take a pacifier, which he won’t, he probably wouldn’t settle down with it. This was Jaeger’s pattern, too. And Jaeger didn’t sleep through the night until he was 9 months old — eating bowls full of solid food and formula, weaned. So, the reason my nerves are as raw as meat in a butcher’s window** is that I am sleep deprived. No wonder, huh? The problem with getting little and interrupted sleep is the mental delay with which one recognizes one’s state.
I tried giving Little Mister No-Plastic a bottle of formula at night, but he would have none of it. Oh, the faces he pulled! Matt tried it, too, on the theory that he wouldn’t take it when the Real Stuff was inches away. No go. Next we’ll have to try leaving him hungry with my mom, perhaps. :) Sleep would be nice, though, and an extra dose of heavy food might do the trick. If I recall correctly, though, that trick worked with Hans but not Jaeger. Ilse also refused a bottle until she was 6 months old (and then promptly weaned herself — I think I had nothing left at that point). So, at this point, weaning to formula and solid food at 6 months doesn’t sound too bad, even though it is more expense and hassle.
I finally broke down and decided I had better try taking a power-nap during quiet time if I can manage it at all. I am not a nap-taker (and Knox tries to maintain that he is not, either), but I don’t have enough inner resources as it stands to maintain cheerfulness with and withstand noise from the older three. And, unfortunately, more than one cup of coffee seems to set me on edge more than improve my coping and any caffeine after noon keeps me awake at night (I think I’m getting old!). So, a nap we must try, I’m afraid.
Good thing Mr. No-Sleep the Second is so super-cute:
We always say that God makes them cute to encourage the parents to forebear. :)
If you can nap, yes, do! I lived on naps for the first six or seven months after Number Four was born, and again when Si was in the hospital (I was sleep-deprived then, too). I had to figure out where I could nap that worked for me, but it was totally worth it.