Sleep and the working mother
Jan. 8th, 2004 07:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fleaThis week, she's been up at least every two hours in the night to nurse. Because she's in our bed, it's less disruptive than it would be otherwise - I know for certain I was asleep while she nursed between 3 and 3:30 - but it still makes for an exhausting night. Last night - to bed at 8:30; I was asleep by 9. We nursed at 10:45, 1, 3, 4:30 (which involved a leaky diaper, so a diaper change, outfit change, and towel in the bed (mr. flea will change the sheets today)). And of course she was wide-eyed at the end of all that! We both feigned deep sleep and she decided that was wise for her as well and after some wiggling (her hands in my hair) she slept more too. Nursed again at 6:45, at which point I got up for the day. They were still sleeping when I left at 7:30.
Now, this is kind of a horror story, I know. She's four months old; everyone who meets her has "does she sleep through the night?" as one of their first questions. I simply lie. Mr. flea has not figured this out yet - he explains! But, despite the wakiness - which I am told is not unusual in the child of a nursing mother who is away 9 hours a day - she wants mother-time, so she makes it for herself in the night - I really love sleeping with the baby.
She's small and warm. She snuggles to me in her sleep. She sleeps with such abandon - limp arms flung out, back often arched, her nose pressed against the side of my pillow. I generally end up with her left hand under my neck, or in my hair, or fumbling along my back as she stirs. She mostly falls asleep like an angel - we read a book in bed, usually Eric Carle's 'Brown Bear, Brown Bear,' and I turn out the light, and she arches and kicks a bit, settles down, and she's out. If she wakes before us in the morning, full rested, she doesn't cry, but sniffs the air and looks wide-eyed at the light coming through the blinds, and only wakes me because of the unavoidable wiggling. Best is when I wake and then watch her wake up: eyes open, she sees me watching and grins at me, then raises her arms above her head, fists, draws her legs up, and farts like a sailor. She seems to take great joy in her morning farting routine, which is extensive and stinky. I regret the inevitable time when she is schooled to realize farts are not to be celebrated, when she loses her sense of one-ness with her body, when she wakes less eager for the day.
Now, this is kind of a horror story, I know. She's four months old; everyone who meets her has "does she sleep through the night?" as one of their first questions. I simply lie. Mr. flea has not figured this out yet - he explains! But, despite the wakiness - which I am told is not unusual in the child of a nursing mother who is away 9 hours a day - she wants mother-time, so she makes it for herself in the night - I really love sleeping with the baby.
She's small and warm. She snuggles to me in her sleep. She sleeps with such abandon - limp arms flung out, back often arched, her nose pressed against the side of my pillow. I generally end up with her left hand under my neck, or in my hair, or fumbling along my back as she stirs. She mostly falls asleep like an angel - we read a book in bed, usually Eric Carle's 'Brown Bear, Brown Bear,' and I turn out the light, and she arches and kicks a bit, settles down, and she's out. If she wakes before us in the morning, full rested, she doesn't cry, but sniffs the air and looks wide-eyed at the light coming through the blinds, and only wakes me because of the unavoidable wiggling. Best is when I wake and then watch her wake up: eyes open, she sees me watching and grins at me, then raises her arms above her head, fists, draws her legs up, and farts like a sailor. She seems to take great joy in her morning farting routine, which is extensive and stinky. I regret the inevitable time when she is schooled to realize farts are not to be celebrated, when she loses her sense of one-ness with her body, when she wakes less eager for the day.