Sleep Evolution
I’m amazed that even with the twins being almost three months old, I still spend most of my time with them trying to change their sleep status. When they’re asleep, I want them awake; when they’re awake, I want them asleep. For example, right now I’m typing with an Ian in my lap, a boy who should be asleep in his crib, but he’d rather be in my lap, and he knows how to get there. I don’t remember Abbie sleeping like a newborn this long after being born, of course I also don’t remember Abbie being born eight weeks early.
The great thing about their sleep patterns at this age though, is if I don’t like them, just wait a couple days and they’ll change. They may not change for the better, but they’ll at least be different.
In their overnight pattern, the boys went through a phase for about a week where they would wake up shortly after 2am for a feeding, go back to sleep, and then start fussing almost exactly at 5:30 every morning. As the week progressed, they woke later and later past 2am, eventually waking at almost 3am, but no matter how late they took their overnight feeding, they still woke at 5:30 every morning. Maybe their immature brains are still wiring their sleeping patterns and adjusting to their wakeup time of 7am, or maybe they just wanted to get a headstart on their 8am nap. Either way, I camped out on the couch when I heard them start fussing, ready to pop a pacifier in them when they woke until I wanted them awake at 7am. This may sound cruel to limp them along for 90 minutes when they obviously sound hungry, but they never really woke up. Although they sound angry, they’re still mostly asleep, and I need to be judicious with the pacifier insertion lest I wake them trying to make them suck and really tick them off.
A couple days ago though, they magically started sleeping until at least 3am, and after I put them back down, they stayed asleep until 7am. This is an obviously better sleeping pattern, giving me longer stretches of uninterrupted sleep unless I have to get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom which I usually do since I’m still used to waking up around 2am. It’s thrown me for a loop though as I adjust to their new pattern. Letting me sleep until 3am lets me drift into a deeper sleep, which I’m having trouble waking from. I’m suddenly much groggier for their overnight feeding. I’ve kept everything straight so far, giving both their correct bottles and putting them back to sleep in their proper left-right position, but if I don’t wake up better soon, I’m sure that one morning I’ll come out to wake them at 7am only to find Tory sleeping on the left side of the crib, and Ian sleeping on the couch, or possibly in the dog’s kennel. The other quirk is I’d come to rely on them waking me at 5:30, and then keeping me semi-conscious until their waketime. If they don’t wake me up though, I don’t wake up no matter how badly I want to keep them on a strict schedule. This morning I slept until almost 7:30; not that I didn’t need the extra sleep, especially if Ian insists on staying in my lap while I want us both to sleep.
The great thing about their sleep patterns at this age though, is if I don’t like them, just wait a couple days and they’ll change. They may not change for the better, but they’ll at least be different.
In their overnight pattern, the boys went through a phase for about a week where they would wake up shortly after 2am for a feeding, go back to sleep, and then start fussing almost exactly at 5:30 every morning. As the week progressed, they woke later and later past 2am, eventually waking at almost 3am, but no matter how late they took their overnight feeding, they still woke at 5:30 every morning. Maybe their immature brains are still wiring their sleeping patterns and adjusting to their wakeup time of 7am, or maybe they just wanted to get a headstart on their 8am nap. Either way, I camped out on the couch when I heard them start fussing, ready to pop a pacifier in them when they woke until I wanted them awake at 7am. This may sound cruel to limp them along for 90 minutes when they obviously sound hungry, but they never really woke up. Although they sound angry, they’re still mostly asleep, and I need to be judicious with the pacifier insertion lest I wake them trying to make them suck and really tick them off.
A couple days ago though, they magically started sleeping until at least 3am, and after I put them back down, they stayed asleep until 7am. This is an obviously better sleeping pattern, giving me longer stretches of uninterrupted sleep unless I have to get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom which I usually do since I’m still used to waking up around 2am. It’s thrown me for a loop though as I adjust to their new pattern. Letting me sleep until 3am lets me drift into a deeper sleep, which I’m having trouble waking from. I’m suddenly much groggier for their overnight feeding. I’ve kept everything straight so far, giving both their correct bottles and putting them back to sleep in their proper left-right position, but if I don’t wake up better soon, I’m sure that one morning I’ll come out to wake them at 7am only to find Tory sleeping on the left side of the crib, and Ian sleeping on the couch, or possibly in the dog’s kennel. The other quirk is I’d come to rely on them waking me at 5:30, and then keeping me semi-conscious until their waketime. If they don’t wake me up though, I don’t wake up no matter how badly I want to keep them on a strict schedule. This morning I slept until almost 7:30; not that I didn’t need the extra sleep, especially if Ian insists on staying in my lap while I want us both to sleep.
posted by Matt at
10:17 PM
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