On nights when Mr. Ibis is out of town, I sleep with the phone in my bed in case of emergency. And since it's there I use it to check the time whenever Miles wakes up.
Last night he slept nicely from 6:30, woke up slightly to dream feed at 7:30 and went all the way to 11:30! Not bad. Then up again at 1:30. Still not bad. Then up at 2:30, 3:30, 4:30, 5:30, and peed the bed at 6 so we were up for good.
This seems to be roughly the pattern. All is well until 1 or 2 am and then it all goes to hell. He is nursing at all or almost all of those wake-ups. Obviously he isn't hungry every single hour and is comfort sucking, but it's not a matter of giving him a paci - the thing is, he has the paci and spits it out looking for boob.
However... I don't mind that too much. What I do mind is the fussing and kicking. But last night went pretty well in that regard. I have been sleeping holding him in a cradle hold, with his head in the crook of my elbow - but I think this was uncomfortable for both of us. I have found that he actually sleeps well on his side next to me. He wants to be touching me, but it's enough just to have my arm alongside him, or even my legs curled up against his bottom. Last night he slept more soundly that way, and fussed less. Which means I slept better, albeit in less than one hour increments for much of the night.
So at each hour I just yank up my shirt and feed him lying down.
Don't freak out on me, but... I decided it's not safe for me to try to nurse sitting up in bed anymore, because last night I did so and the next thing I knew we were both asleep and he was lying across my lap. Falling asleep nursing side-lying is one thing because we both just lie beside each other. Falling asleep holding him sitting up not so good!
I have always slept as still as a statue so I don't worry about rolling onto him. I do believe that sleeping mothers are aware of their babies' bodies and unless drunk/drugged don't roll onto the baby. But also in my particular case, I don't move when I sleep. My college roommate used to make fun of me because (back in the days when I slept alone) I didn't even really have to make my bed, I would just slip back out of the covers and it looked like no one was ever there.
I'm not sure how we're going to transition out of bed sharing but I'm not worried about it for now. We have a king sized bed and Mr. Ibis and I find times to be intimate still.
Judy's having some challenges with his naps now that Miles is strong enough to bust out of the swaddle. She had been relying on that for his naps and it was working well, until Monday when he broke loose and woke up "pissed off" in her words. She said she's going to work on de-swaddling for naps so maybe that will help us at home (I haven't told her I bed share because in offline life I'm a little afraid people will judge me!). This is the thing about Judy that I love - she takes every aspect of this job seriously. It's not that she just watches him while I'm at work. She works on things like napping, playing with new toys, etc.
Speaking of daycare, she told me yesterday that at one point all three babies woke up and were screaming. But Miles quickly stopped crying and just laid there calmly watching as the other two threw fits. When I walked in to pick him up that afternoon, one of the babies was crying in a bouncy chair (Judy was trying to soothe him back down to a nap) and Miles was lying on the floor nearby talking intently. Such a funny boy. He certainly lets us know when he wants something but overall he is such a laid back baby!
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