Wednesday, February 24, 2010

I want to sleep, Farah!

I am so sleep-deprived.

For a few months, this Farah slept through the night.

Then, she decided that it was fun waking up at 3am.

Now, she has made the decision to wake up at 10pm, 12mn, 1am, 3am, 4am and 5am.

If I ignore her, she will start wailing. And then, Huda will wake up whining, "Mak, Farah bising." Mak, Farah is noisy. If I choose to ignore Farah, Huda will start sobbing, "Mak, Farah nangis. Dia nak susu." Farah is crying. She wants milk.

But, no, she doesn't want milk. Because, when I pick her up and cuddle her and rock her gently, she goes back to sleep.

Two nights ago, I was terribly exhausted and wanted to just ignore her crying. She managed to stay awake from midnight to 4am, alternating between little sobs to full-blast wails. It ended at 4am only because TheHusband couldn't take it anymore and so he rocked her gently to sleep.

In the daytime, she refuses to nap on her own. She will breastfeed to sleep and will remain asleep as long as she's in my arms. The moment I put her down, it's as if I put her down on a bed of nails.

I am exhausted. Should I go to the zoo and beg the zookeepers for a tranqulizer dart?

Help!


Update: 26 February 2010 - She had a very stubborn fever last night. Temperature shot up to 40.1 degrees despite the 4-hourly Panadol. This morning, when she cried, I peered into her mouth when she cried and saw many, many ulcers on the roof of her mouth and at the back of her throat. Doctor confirmed that it's HFMD. This justifies her waking up twice every hour last night.

10 comments:

tea tea said...

omg!!! i can so relate to this..long long time ago for me.. kesiyannya ko!!!

i dunno how to advise cos' i couldn't take it myself and i gave in all the time then; sat down, rocked him,bf him to sleep and i'll fall asleep together with him.maybe tt's y until now, he has to nestle under someone's armpit, doesn't matter mine or the husband's or nenek's or atuk's or uncles, before he can go to sleep. :S budak ni betul2 suka bawah ketiak orang.

but i feel u!!! din think of tranquilizer dart then. :P

and i know y i am super forgetful these days too - sleep-deprived.

Liza Ali said...

Sabar Nad, I think it's just a phase she's going thru. Ilhan also doing that now, just wakes up at 2-3am and start wailing or sobbing. Kasi puting pun tak nak. No matter how I pacify him, he refuse to calm down. So I took the easy way out. "SLEEEPPP!!!!!" And tadaaaa he keeps quiet and sleeps...and I continue with mine too :)

Ai Li Tay said...

OH NO!!!! Can't advise you with this tho. But i think I hear friends saying to ignore so that they will know you are not giving in...if u keep rocking her to sleep, you are just 'conditioning' her more...put Huda in a different room?
Aw, I dunno....

nad makhuda said...

kau lah ibu mithali! i thought of tranquilizer darts, sleeping meds and an assortment of stuff. :P

you are still sleep-deprived? hazim doesnt wake up anymore at night now, does he? anyway, why did he wake up so frequently? any ideas?

and he needs to nestle himself in somebody's armpit? that's actually quite endearing. i guess, if he were to nestle in my pit, the overpowering 'scent' will knock him out for a long long time.

nad makhuda said...

what exactly does "SLEEEPPP!!!!!" mean? u shout at him? doesnt work for farah leh. i not only shout at her, i also smack her on her butts. but, no effect leh. only cry louder. :(

nad makhuda said...

that's the suggestion given by many websites. just let her cry it out. but she can go on for 4 hours leh. that's a super duper long time to go on crying. for now, farah has gone back to sleep in our room so that huda can have some peace.

in the daytime when it's just the 2 of us at home and i'm not so concerned about her waking the neighbours up, i just put her inside her playpen so she can cry as much as she wants to. after 1 hour when her naptime is supposed to be over, i pick her up again.

sigh. i just hope that it's just a phase she's going through and it'll stop tonight. i SOOOOO need my sleep.

tea tea said...

aku bukan ibu mithali la..sekarang tangan aku mcm ader jalan cepat sket. :P

he's still waking up at night like 2 to 3 times cos' of nightmares- sat down and cried or flip his body up and down while merengek at the same time. sometimes, he woke up asking for nonsense. just yest night, he woke up 5 times asking for each of these:

1. "ibu, terbalik terbalik!" then he promptly removed his socks from his feet. his feet get cold easily in a fan-environment, (yes, fan not air-con but his hands and feet get cold easily regardless) so he has to put on socks b4 he sleeps.
2. "ibu,amikkan tissue pls." then he hembus2 his nose like he got stuffed nose.
3. "ibu, nak tukar pampers. nak tukar pampers." sat down and asked
4." ibu, buatkan susu pls."
5."ibu, wer miza? wer uncle zayid."

aku tak tau apa nak cakap. hari ni aku mcm zombie. farah wants to say something to you but cannot talk properly yet so she kept crying to comunicate with u lorr!! heheh.. but hang in there k! it's a phase..it's a phase.but i know how exhausting it is!.and hope yest night was better for u?

abt bawah ketiak org - the more powerful the scent, the more he'll be able to sleep soundly. :P dia kena amik bau. very touchy and feely boy.

nad makhuda said...

yati, your son is one funny dude! now that he's talking a lot, his demands are getting more and more - interesting? hehee!

su s said...

I hope farah is getting better. HFMD is contagious isn't it. Have to shield Huda too. My boys slept with us all along until recently when I stopped bf Yusuf when he turned 2. Before that they usually want me to snuggle them up till they fall asleep. I usually slept thru the night coz if anyone of them wakes up in the middle of the night, the dad comes to their rescue ;)

nad makhuda said...

Yes, Farah is, alhamdulillah, getting better. She can smile and can drink milk and water. Still refuses solids, though. But as long as she's drinking something, it's not too bad. Huda now complains that her mouth hurts. But we peered into her mouth and checked it again and again but coudnt find anything suspicious inside. We'll see. If it's HFMD and she cant go to school for 2 weeks, you'll hear me screaming like a banshee by the third day.

You sleep through the night with 2 boys sleeping in the same room??! You lucky thing, you!!