Sleep regressions are phases that many children go through due to physical and/or cognitive developmental milestones; sometimes these milestones occur simultaneously which really does a number on their sleep. These milestones whether that be crawling, standing, walking, cruising or even talking causes sleep disruptions because when a new skill is learned, that’s all their little brains can think about. What we need to remember is that children learn everything; things that we often take for granted such as tying our shoe laces, stacking blocks, walking, running – these are things that children find fascinating once they learn how to do it which means they have to do them over and over and over again. It preoccupies every waking second and unfortunately, every second that they should be sleeping. Sleep regressions seem long and painful because your child turns into a shell of her former self – she will become clingy, whiny, fussy and cry a whole lot. Sleep a lot less. Your weapon against sleep regressions other than this article? Information and preparation for the likelihood that at some point, your child will encounter a sleep regression. Here’s the low-down of what you can expect.
Clingy, whiny, fussy - that describes Cael over the last week. To be completely honest, the night before last was the worst night since Cael was a newborn. And I will actually go as far as to say I think it was worse than the newborn stage. He was up most the night, and I probably gotmaybe 3 hours of sleep. We were up for the day at 4:15, even though I continually tried to put him back to sleep for 2 hours. I never laid in bed for more than 10 minutes from 4-6 am. It was really rough. During the day has been very similar for the last few days, too. Very fussy, clingy and grumpy.
However, last night and today weren't bad. Hopefully he's turning around? He was horrible before bed last night - screaming for 1.5 hours strait. Like bloody-murder screaming. So bad, that we started his bedtime routine 20 minutes early. He screamed the whole time Matt was unchanging him for his bath, during his bath, and after his bath. Up until I started feeding him. After 5 minutes of being on my right breast, he was out cold. Fortunately and thankfully, he slept from 9:15pm to 5am.
I'm also have issues feeding Cael on my left breast. Hence, 'right' is italicized above. He'll feed on my left side for no more than 5 minutes, and then pull off and start crying, like he's frustrated. He has been doing this for about a week now. He'll feed fine on my right breast. It makes me frustrated, too, like I'm inadequate on that side. I know it's not a supply issue, because I can squirt milk from that breast all over. So I really don't know what's going on with my left side. At least he doesn't mind feeding on the right side.
And finally, a quick update on the small lump I had in my right breast. It's an inflamed Montgomery Tuberacle. So basically, a plugged up oil duct. Some calamine lotion to help dry it out, and I should be good. Seeing everyone in the BCC wasn't as bad or as uncomfortable as I thought it would be either. Everyone was nice, and actually helpful with Cael during my appointment. He was fussing a lot, so Cael was passed around the BCC, so that he wouldn't cry in the exam room with me. It was nice of them to help out.
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