Sleep

     We're having a lot of issues in our family these days. Sleep, or lack there of, is one of them.

     As I mentioned in my last post, Rachel has been nursing around the clock for the last few weeks due to my milk supply bottoming out. Before I realized this is what was happening, she would literally be up every hour or so throughout the night. There is only so long a person can do that without going crazy, and she wasn't getting a good sleep, either, which worries me about when her poor little brain will have time to develop. So, we were all fairly tired and miserable. Over the last week, we have been trying to introduce formula to her, much to everyone's chagrin (mainly hers and mine). It is especially important to get it into her at night because by the end of the day I'm empty, she needs to have a full tummy before bed, and I need the night to replenish. Unfortunately, as with most breastfed babies, she takes great comfort in nursing, and that is how she needs to fall asleep. And so, we end up having these epic battles of trying to get her to take the formula when all she wants to do is nurse to sleep. We tried the lactation aid/ feeding tube, and it worked a few times, but she is old and wise enough now to realize when someone is inserting a piece of rubber tubing into her mouth while she is trying to nurse, and generally has come to freak out whenever we try that. And don't even think about trying to give her a bottle instead. We have had her take a bottle a few times, but never as a substitute for nursing to sleep. So, the last few nights I have been attempting to get some formula into her via a spoon. She is quite into 'big people food', so I thought this might be our best bet. Of course, it doesn't help with the fact that she hates the taste of formula (and rightly so), but I have been mixing in a couple of teaspoons of baby oatmeal cereal to hopefully help improve the taste, and for now it has been working. She can nurse what little I have left afterwards - long enough to comfort and relax her, and then she has been sleeping for 5 or 6 hours after!

     The problem now is Laura. Laura is at a point where she seldom naps anymore. She still needs one about once a week, but when she does nap, she ends up staying up so late! And then the next day is just horrible again. She has been sleeping in her big girl bed about 50% of the time now, but about a month ago or so she figured out an acrobatic, yet reliable way of safely escaping her crib. And shortly after that, she figured out how to open her bedroom door. So there was no containing her. Subsequently, even if we put her to bed at a reasonable time, she plays in her room, getting in and out of her bed(s), and can even climb up on the dresser to turn on the light, negating all efforts we have put forth to relax her and get her ready to sleep. Last night was the worst. We put her to bed shortly after 7:00, and she continued to horse around in there for almost three hours! By the time I was getting ready for bed, she was still puttering around in there. And by puttering, I mean climbing on various furniture, being too tired to be careful, falling off and hurting herself, and sending herself into several fits of hysteria. And let's be honest, I have no patience for that kind of nonsense at 10:00 at night. I had just finally got Rachel down around 9:30, and really wanted to cash in on my six hours of consecutive sleep - not deal with a hysterically overtired toddler who doesn't know what's good for her. Sigh. She ended up getting herself so worked up at one point she vomitted a little. She has also had a bit of a cold/ runny nose, so Josh thought some Tylenol would help settle her. And it did, though this is obviously not something we can rely on consistently.

Any advice on our sleeping dilemma(s) is much appreciated!

I was thinking maybe a large dog crate for Laura? People do that, right? ;)