Entry: Return of the Zombie Mom Wednesday, September 20, 2006



It gradually crept up on me... from 6 hours to 5 hours to 4 hours to 2-3 hours every sleep session at night. Yes, the dreaded 4-month Sleep Regression.

None of the fancy books written by MDs mentioned that. Nor did they mention stress incontinence, hair falling out, or any of the other nasty things that happen to all new moms. So save your money and buy MY book, um... when I do write it.

Anyhoo, 5 days of drastically broken sleep were about all I could handle. I was zombie by day and zombie by night. What concentration I had I channelled to work. What good humour I had were focused on baby. There was very little left that I had to call myself human. Then again, the definition of human is quite variable...

Over the weekend I zoned out watching Firefly and even got a little depressed after it was over, feeling a little abandoned by my new friends on their new yet-unscripted adventures. I've always wanted to explore space but don't reckon I'll be able to do so in my lifetime. I did inherit shiny and gorram so all is not lost.

Yesterday baby went for his 2nd innoculation. He squealed once when jabbed and then was okay when it was over. He is 7kg now and 63cm. Heavy for his age but a normal height for his age. His Dad was so proud.

Speaking of eating, we tried rice cereal on Monday since he keeps eyeing our food very enviously. He tried some but didn't show much interest. It didn't help him sleep as promised.

He has been a verbose baby since day one, crying GIIIIII when he was just 2 weeks old, saying Goo when he was about a month (or was it 2 months), and in the last week, starting on Boo, last Saturday saying Baba, and today saying Bebe (which I'd been calling him recently).

Oh yes, back on the sleep thing. It's apparently normal as baby is allegedly learning lots now and can't sleep because his brain is active at night. I can empathise.

Baby finally slept 6 hours straight last night but I was awake till time unknown with my old friend Insomnia on an unexpected visit. He did wake up and talked a little to himself, but fortunately fell asleep again after. I remember the important lesson about teaching your child how to fall asleep himself. I don't think he's forgotten.

I figured it was either: teething, sleep regression, or my diet. The one thing I did different last night was eat more meat. (I also fed him 3 times from 10pm - he slept for a bit after - 11pm, and midnight.) It is possible that the lack of protein in my diet in the last few days could have been responsible for his bad sleep. Now that I gobbled up more meat, he slept pretty much all the way through. My boobs had been pretty soft before too but they are starting to spray again today.

So the diet explanation has my vote...

For today.

   0 comments

Leave a Comment:

Name


Homepage (optional)


Comments