Mushroom has turned into a rock star.
Aside from his little growth spurt at 3 weeks, my son was sleeping like a trooper. We were getting him to bed by 9pm, awake at 1.30am for a feed then straight back to sleep until 6am. It was awesome. Juffin and I were revelling. This is great, we thought, we can do this.... I was even managing to get some exercise in when he went back to sleep after his morning feed. Happy Mum, happy Mushroom. Then it got really fucking hot and he's not coping at all. Whinging, and unsettled, my little mushroom is a decidedly unhappy little boy. I've had the a/c flat chat for days now but I don't know if it's working.
Obviously because of the heat, the Mushroom needs to feed more to keep hydrated, but, catch 22, the wet nappies have also increased, and he seems to be wetting right through them... We are changing way more frequently, around 10 nappies a day, and he then manages to pee all over himself on the change table as well! I have a spare nappy on hand to cover him whilst we're changing as this has happened before but those doodles are so unpredictable! Yesterday he just kicked it off and peed with abundant joy all over his own face. I mean what the hell?! I then have to start the whole wipe down and re clothe process again. I would have him in nothing but a nappy but as he won't sleep unless the air conditioning is on, he needs to have a singlet on at least. Thank god that we have a gazillion onesies as we are going through 4 outfits a day, minimum, coupled with the constant crying, the no sleeping and the general unhappiness, I'm not a happy Mummy. What gives?! You think you're doing well and everything is going along swimmingly then... blam! I dread to see what our electricity bill is going to look like with all the damn clothes/nappy washing and the air conditioning pumping out that sweet, frigid air 24/7.
Last night I finally got the Mushroom down at 8.30pm after fighting it out with him since his last hour nap at 4 in the afternoon. Clearly exhausted, he slept until half midnight, which was great! 4 hours, I thought, woohoo! When he woke, I proceeded to feed him as usual, kept the light really dim, minimal chatter for a night feed. We did a nappy change, had some cuddles and I then fed him a little more as he was still showing signs of hunger. He drifted off with a minimal amount of fuss and I left him on my chest for 10 mins then tried to put him in his hammock. Instantly his eyes fly open and look at me accusingly like 'How dare you Mum?!' and he's awake and crying all over again. We repeated this process twice. Finally at quarter to 3 I got him down. Only to be woken again at 4.30, repeat ad nauseum.
Arrrrggghhhhh!!!! It's like my son is some kind of drug addict who's detoxing or something. Remember that scene from Trainspotting? He's like Renton was when he was coming down, screaming and crying, and carrying on. Except obviously not a heroin addict. Or a grown man. Actually that was a stupid reference but whatever, you get my drift. The damn Mushroom is crazy right now! The eye rubbing, constant feeding, wet nappies, grizzly crying, fist pumping and leg kicking diva-like behaviour non-stop goes on for hours and hours. When he woke up at 4.30 this morning I was ready to walk out the door except I was too tired and wearing a really ugly nightie. Yes. I wear nighties because when you're breastfeeding it's the easiest thing to wear. Don't judge me.
The lowest point of yesterday was when I yelled at Juffin because he took too long in the toilet. In my defence, the Mushroom had stopped mid feed, screamed, spewed all over me, then resumed screaming. We were entering our fourth hour of non-stop 'rockstar' in the day that just wouldn't end. I needed a break but the poor man was just trying to take a shit. Deep breaths.
I know that this is all normal behaviour for a 4 week old baby. I know that there's nothing wrong with him, my milk, or my parenting skills. This is just what babies do. It doesn't make it any less frustrating or hard though. I don't want to jinx myself but he's been out for nearly an hour and half now. I managed to shower, shove some toast in my face and get some of the mountain of washing done. It's now my turn to get a snooze in before he wakes again.
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| What 3 hours sleep looks like... eek! |
Next time: Hopefully we'll both be alive to post about a next time... lols!
