First day report

Yesterday was the first full day Alex and I spent alone together. The morning went great. We got up around six, he ate and had his bath, then let me take a shower while he enjoyed the bouncy seat and the bathroom lights. He had a nap. Then, after a while we went out to the dry cleaner, the post office, and the library. After that, we came home and had lunch with Marty, who has been coming home for lunch most days since Alex was born.

And then everything fell apart.

In the afternoon he absolutely could not get to sleep. I tried everything I knew -- walking, singing, rocking, massage, and more -- but his little eyes just kept getting redder and redder, and he kept getting fussier and fussier. By the time Marty got home from work, Alex was just overwrought and it kept getting worse all evening. He would eat and get drowsy in our arms, then he would wake up and scream and struggle and thrash around, banging his head into our chins. Or he would finally drop off and we would put him down, only to have him wake up with a scream three minutes later. It was so sad.

Marty even took him out for a drive in the car to help him fall asleep, but once they came back in the house, Alex woke up within five minutes.

Even after he finally got to sleep, he slept badly all night. Marty finally got him to sleep around 10pm, but then he woke up at 1:30, 3:30, and 5:00.

Luckily, all the books I checked out at the library yesterday morning were about babies and sleep.

After just a little cursory reading in between rocking sessions, I think it was the lack of naps that did it. Somehow I let him get overstimulated in the middle of the day, and he never really recovered. He just couldn't wind down.

So today I'm going to work really hard on the naps. One of the books said he probably needs not to go longer than about two hours without a nap, so I'm trying to follow that rule today. He woke up for good this morning around 6:00, and I got him down for a nap around 8:00. To do that, I had to start winding him down in his room around 7:40. Then he slept for about 40 minutes (waking up a few times) and he was hungry, so he ate and then dropped back off to sleep at 9:00. His eyes still looked tired (and who could blame him after that night he had) so I think it's probably a good thing. He's still sleeping now at 9:40. We usually go to a moms and babies group that starts at 10 on Tuesdays, but I think today we'll just go late so he can sleep as long as he needs to.

From what I understand, keeping a baby awake during the day doesn't help him sleep any better at night. In fact, it can make it a lot worse. So today we're going to focus on naps and see if we can have a better afternoon.

Still, considering that it was our first day alone together, I think yesterday mostly went pretty well. But I am hoping today will be better.