UBC Motherhood - Sleep

This will be a short episode.

Sleep?

Bahahaaaahahahaa!

It won't happen. 

The End.

Sadly this has been true in my case. I wouldn't entirely blame the baby though. I have been having trouble falling and staying asleep long before he made his appearance myself.

After he was born, things got considerably worse of course.

Being a first time mother, I wanted to do things by the book. I was told how much milk to give him in one feeding, and I stuck to the plan even though, looking back, I probably wouldn't have overfed him if I gave him more before going to sleep. This may have sustained him a bit longer, allowing me to at least get a nap.

I don't know how I coped. 

There's this recommendation every well meaning person will give you:

 "Sleep when the baby sleeps." Here's what I have to say about that:

I would have loved to take a nap with him. He just didn't nap. 

The only time he fell asleep was if I carried him around for a really long time - or in the stroller. 

He didn't fall asleep right away though. First he checked out the environment. A car passing by, children shrieking, birds chirping,... I walked and walked for up to an hour, constantly avoiding eye contact because as long as I looked at him, he'd look back. 

Cobble stone or gravel roads helped. In order to get there it was quite a walk.

I admit, it did me well. Yes, I didn't get to take a nap, but I benefitted from walking in the fresh air. About five months after giving birth my old jeans fit again!

As a remnant from birth, my pelvic floor was still very weak. Meaning when I had to pee, I had to pee. I had to keep this in mind wherever I was going. If one way took an hour, the way home would take another hour. 

Oh, and forget about going to a café for a (bathroom) break! As soon as we entered a building where there was music, lights and people, his eyes would immediately pop open "what's going on, where are we, what are we up to?"

The same was true for standing still and / or saying hello to someone on the street or on the phone. I felt so rude when I ran into people and just quickly waved at them and kept walking.

A pretty safe way to get him to fall asleep was to drive somewhere. About half an hour in the car seat would do the trick. I didn't do this very often though as long as he couldn't walk. You see, when we purchased our stroller we sort of had to decide:

• Do we want something comfortable and sturdy, suitable for nature walks as well as for grocery shopping in the neighborhood?
• Is it a priority to have a light and easily foldable stroller to put in the car's trunk?

We went for the first option. Not that our lovely stroller wasn't collapsible if you knew which bolts to loosen and where to pull, but even after mastering this, it was too heavy for me to lift into the car. At least in the beginning. 

I remember one afternoon we went to a mall where I had vouchers for a baby clothing store. Hubby had put the stroller in the car for me. I was able to remove it myself, and we enjoyed ourselves at the shopping center. It wasn't until I had to disassemble the stroller and put it back into the car that I hit my limits. I was sweating blood and tears, and I was cursing under my breath. Meanwhile baby Colin was getting antsy in his car seat. I could tell he was getting hungry soon. 

Of course by the time I managed to get going, we hit rush hour traffic. I did something I usually didn't: I called hubby to make sure that by the time we would get home, he'd be home, too and have a warm bottle of milk ready for my little shopping companion. Phew. Rescued!

So the first year we mostly went places on foot. Well, I went on foot. He enjoyed his stroller rides.

Back to napping.

When Colin was less than three years old, he quit even trying.

 

He'd constantly climb out of his bed. There were so many toys to play with, and so many books to read, who had time to sleep?

Until he got too tired. It usually happened shortly before or during dinner, meaning we didn't get him to sleep until very late at night, which didn't mean, however, that he wasn't wide awake and full of energy the next morning at 5:30am. 6 if I was lucky.

For me, the sleep issue was the hardest part of having a baby and toddler, and apart from feeling almost too old to become pregnant again, this was the most important factor not to try for a second child.

Of course today that he's a teenager, he'll happily sleep in, and on school days, we have to wake him up. 

All in all, everything's normal, right?