Sleeping is awesome

What a difference some sleep can make!

After almost 2 weeks of waking only 2-3 times in the night, I started feeling like a whole new woman.  I stayed up a little bit after Silas went to bed - 8:30 PM, what luxury.  I watched a TV show and read a book.  I had a little free time with Brian.  Most of all, the haze of sleep deprivation started to lift and I was no longer just barely coping through each day.  What a relief!

Then we hit a rough patch, with Brian’s illness and 3 nights of really terrible sleep for Silas, waking 10-15 times.  It was even more miserable than all the other terrible patches of sleep we’ve had previously because I thought we might finally be done with that phase of his life!

The only thing I haven’t tried in regards to Silas’s sleep is removing allergens from my diet. He doesn’t have any obvious allergy symptoms beyond poor sleep, although he does have 2 persistent, dime-sized patches of eczema on his cheeks (and only his cheeks - the rest of his skin is perfect) and he seems to have an itchy nose rather frequently.  But hey, I’ll try anything to get some better sleep, so a few days ago I stopped eating dairy, soy, eggs, peanuts, and tree nuts.  That means I’m avoiding all the common allergens except wheat.

Last night Silas slept for 6 hours, which is the longest he’s ever slept in his life, and he only nursed once at night; that’s also a first.  The night before, he was only up twice.  It’s possible this is just the continuation of the trend of the last few weeks, and the terrible sleep earlier in the week was just a step backward.  It’s also possible that Silas HAS been allergic to something this whole time.  I don’t know whether to be optimistic that his poor sleep is the result of a solvable problem, or pessimistic that I might have to remove a large chunk of foods from my diet and that Silas may have limited food options for a while.  Either way, who knows how things will develop over the next few weeks.

All that aside, though - it’s unbelievable how much easier it is to take care of a baby when one is well rested.  It’s an utterly different experience.  I have Silas alone today (Friday), and it’s been easy!  We had some great long walks, a visit with a friend who has a toddler, and we’ve read books and knocked over block towers and played in the jumper and so on.  All the usual stuff.  It’s been fun!  And so, so much less stressful than trying to do all this on 4-5 hours of horribly fractured sleep.  I can’t even imagine how much more pleasant and joyful the last few months would have been if I had been well rested the whole time.  Well, a person can dream.  Long may this better sleep continue, and if it doesn’t - at least I have something to really look forward to.