Worst mother- EVER
Patrick has been waking at a progressively earlier hour since the start of the year. At first it was 6 or 6.30 which was just fine, but then it became 5 or 5.30 which was annoying on days off but not too terrible generally because we get up at 5.30 for work. But then it started to be 4.45, then 4.30, 4.15 and this morning, the clock told me it was 0359. We've tried a whole bunch of things to resettle him, and the only thing that seems to work is a bit of 'controlled crying' as he sometimes drifts back off to sleep after 10 minutes or so and we can sometimes get up to another hour of sleep (but more generally, about 20 minutes) before he wakes again, this time for good. And this morning it is extra cold- yesterday was the coldest April day in Sydney for 50 years- aaaaand I've been told that if I go in and try to resettle him he'll just want boobie. So I felt a little justified in just yelling from my room "It's too early, go back to sleep!".
It worked for a bit- he'd stop crying for maybe 5 minutes (just enough to trick you into thinking you'll be able to get to sleep again)but then start up again where he'd left off. By 0530 I realised I was going to have to get up for work anyway so I went in and picked him up.
He was so cold.
I had known it was going to be a cool night so I had dressed him for bed in a singlet suit, a wondersuit, his flanellette pyjamas (cute!cute!cute!) and his gr.oba.g, but his little hands were like blocks of ice and his gorgeous blondie hair was no help against the chill- his face was cold cold cold.
Admittedly his torso was toasty under the clothes he was in, but the coldness had crept up the arms of his 'jamies way past the elbow. I tucked him in with me and he had a feed (I could see his hands turning pink as they re-warmed- at one stage he even started crying and I'm sure it was that terrible stinging feeling you get), and as soon as he was finished he... went back to sleep.
So he wasn't waking up for the day, nor was he really all that hungry (although amongst the howls and indecipherable but undeniably sad burble I have noted "Booo-beee! Boooo-beeee!") but he was terribly terribly cold.
Last year at this time he wasn't as mobile, and we were still swaddling him in cosy flanellette wraps, so he didn't get cold, but this year he is mobile enough to zoot himself out from under whatever blankets I put on him, and I don't really know how else to keep him warm apart from copious layering, which tends to overheat him in the evenings. Do any of you non-terrible mothers have an answer?
Now I'm going to have to go and wake him up for daycare so I can go to work. I am 100% the worst mother-ever.
It worked for a bit- he'd stop crying for maybe 5 minutes (just enough to trick you into thinking you'll be able to get to sleep again)but then start up again where he'd left off. By 0530 I realised I was going to have to get up for work anyway so I went in and picked him up.
He was so cold.
I had known it was going to be a cool night so I had dressed him for bed in a singlet suit, a wondersuit, his flanellette pyjamas (cute!cute!cute!) and his gr.oba.g, but his little hands were like blocks of ice and his gorgeous blondie hair was no help against the chill- his face was cold cold cold.
Admittedly his torso was toasty under the clothes he was in, but the coldness had crept up the arms of his 'jamies way past the elbow. I tucked him in with me and he had a feed (I could see his hands turning pink as they re-warmed- at one stage he even started crying and I'm sure it was that terrible stinging feeling you get), and as soon as he was finished he... went back to sleep.
So he wasn't waking up for the day, nor was he really all that hungry (although amongst the howls and indecipherable but undeniably sad burble I have noted "Booo-beee! Boooo-beeee!") but he was terribly terribly cold.
Last year at this time he wasn't as mobile, and we were still swaddling him in cosy flanellette wraps, so he didn't get cold, but this year he is mobile enough to zoot himself out from under whatever blankets I put on him, and I don't really know how else to keep him warm apart from copious layering, which tends to overheat him in the evenings. Do any of you non-terrible mothers have an answer?
Now I'm going to have to go and wake him up for daycare so I can go to work. I am 100% the worst mother-ever.
posted by jen at 1:50 PM
4 Comments:
the twinkle has been waking up cold too. sometimes i put her in a sleeping bag or pyjamas with a hood, although i'm not convinced that's the answer. (i worry she'll roll over and get tangled in the hood and smother herself.) the sleeping bag she was in last night (no hood) has the little flaps that you can fold back over their hands, but i didn't deploy them. so i'm right up there in the worst mother stakes - unable to come up with simple baby-warming solutions or even to use the ones presented to me.
hmmm, flaps might be a good answer. I did think of mittens but he hates things on his hands, but big enough flaps might do...
I also worry about hoods. I freak out that wehn he has a nap in a hoodie he'll turn over and the hood will go over his face- but he also hates things on his face so I'm sure he'd pull it off.
First of all, you're not the worst mother ever because I took that title on March 3rd of this year. Secondly, although it's scary, he was probably fine. I've read that as long as their chests are warm, they're okay. Their extremities get cold because of poor circulation at this age. Then again, I don't have the medical degree - you do...
What I meant with that last bit is that it's only my opinion, and I'm not trying to tell a person with a medical degree that they're wrong. Sorry...just wanted to explain.
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