Nothing a good night's sleep can't make right.

Lately, this little flat that I call home is having numerous sleepless problems.

It all started a few weeks back when The Caterpillar will stir in the middle of the night and/or wake up 5 or 6 in the morning. We read it as one of the signs that she is ready for solids. However, she has started eating her rice cereal for almost two weeks now and her sleeping problem is still not going away.

In the last one week, she hasn't been taking much naps. Take yesterday as an example: After her bath, I put her down for a nap. Woke up 20 minutes later by the SCDF siren at 12.05pm (darn!) & refused to go back to sleep. After her lunch & playtime, I tried putting her down for a nap again. She had her usual fussing a bit then fell asleep. "Looks promising!" I thought to myself. I went to wash her bottles & bowls, sterilised them & put them away. Just when I was about to settle onto my own bed to read a book, relieve that I could take a small break, I hear her coo-ing via the baby monitor. Sigh! Checked the clock- she slept for barely 30 minutes. And so, I played with her. She pooped. And then, it was time for her 4pm milk. Gave it to her, read a couple of books with her, played a bit. Determined to try to let her nap a bit more, I put her down in her cot yet again. And just like the last time, she fell asleep after her usual bout of fussing. And then, she woke up again! This time, 15 minutes later.

For the past few days, she was so tired by bedtime that she would fall asleep in The Husband's arms at the last feed. But 20 minutes later, she will wake up again. And we will try soothing her back to sleep. Sometimes, it worked. Other times, we had to try 3-4 times before successfully putting her into her cot. Then, without fail, 3 hours later (around 1- 230am, depending on what time she eventually went to bed), she would stir, whining a little so one of us will go and give her her dummy. There, she would sleep nicely till dawn before she starts stirring again from around 6am onwards all the way till her usual waking time at 8-9am.

As a result of her recent sleeping trends, I have become an even lighter sleeper than before. I wake up at the slightest sound which can be numerous times in a night. The annoying part is that I may not be able to fall back to sleep thereafter. When I do, I'd have some weird dreams that I cannot remember after waking up, except that they involved the little one.


So what could be wrong that renders this change of sleeping pattern? Lack of solid food does not seem to be the right answer. Teething could be the cause although I won't know until a tooth pops out of her gum telling me "Yes, I'm the culprit!". I, on the other hand, is tipping toward the paranoia end.The accumulative effect of having restless sleeps at night and the lack of me-time in the day is a harassed me. By the end of yesterday, what I envisioned was a bleak picture. I was at a point of tearing and The Husband had to be extra careful not to step on my toes.

We talked about it before we slept and came to no conclusion. But at least I bared my soul to him instead of bottling up my frustrations & threatening to spill. My parting words to him before I drifted to lala-land was "All will be good after a good night's sleep.". Boy, was i correct! The Husband took over the night duties of attending to her while I slept. Restful, conked out sleep.

Waking up this morning, everything looks beautiful once more. It feels like the outstanding sleep debt accumulated over the past few weeks have all been cleared. Now, I can think straight again. Rationalizing the matter, at the very least the reduction in her sleep hours does not seem to have any bearing - except that she gets hungry faster as she is active more than usual. Look on the bright side, she is merely stirring in the middle of the night; it is not as if she is waking up and not going back to sleep (REJECT THAT!). So, there isn't really a call for concern.

Therefore, instead of letting my paranoia eat me up bit by bit, I am gonna let this matter slide. Relish the fact that she has more waking hours to spend with me, let the house go messy a bit if need be and savor the few hours of me-time I get when she goes over to the in-laws' place.