I’m totally freaked out.

Allie had a bad night. We went out to a local fish place (Boneheads) for dinner, and she didn’t sleep in the car on the way there, so she basically missed her evening short nap. She did sleep about 20 mins or so in the carrier at the restaurant, after fussing, but that was hardly enough. Since she didn’t get good evening rest, I figured she’d be down solid overnight.

I fed her around 7p, she ate well and actually ate both sides (a feat these few days), and again, I was encouraged, thinking, “She’s well-fed so there’s no reason to get up. Maybe tonight she’ll go back to her normal sleep of 1 awakening overnight or better.” She did fall asleep pretty solidly at 7:40p. But then after that it all unraveled. She was up every 3 hours for food, starting at 11:30p (not since she was a newborn), then 2:40a, then was up at about 3:30a, kicking around, tossing her head left and right, eyes wide open. She’s had 7-8 feedings in 24 hours as opposed to the old 5-6 feedings. I told Mr. W to leave her alone as he started to get up to give her the pacifier, and she did settle down and go back to sleep, but that only lasted until 4:15a or so. At that time, Mr. W wanted me to get sleep, so he went in there and gave her the pacifier. Seeing her settled and sleeping on the monitor, I then fell asleep until almost 7a when I heard a single cry from her. I found out later that since he went in there, she did not sleep for more than 15-20 mins at a time, and he had to keep getting up to put the fallen pacifier back in her mouth, he tried taking her bear “bed” out and putting her on her stomach on the mattress, nothing worked more than that small increment of time. He finally stopped soothing her around 7a knowing that’s when I normally start the day with her with a feeding. Yes, he checked her diaper, and that wasn’t it, either. She just tossed and kicked, wide awake.

Before he went in there around 4a, he suggested that I may be overnapping her in the day, hencing making her less tired at night. I said that day naps and night sleep are independent mechanisms in their heads (something I learned from Dr. Weissbluth’s “Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child,” or what I’ve been calling “The Sleep Book” on here). He said that the book was not written by God and I’ve been treating it like gospel, and maybe it doesn’t apply to every child. But Dr. Weissbluth’s a pediatrician specializing in child sleep. 🙁

So now I’m completely lost, like a piece of splinter after a shipwreck tossing about the open sea. Mr. W tried to soothe her into her morning nap and I heard her crying and resisting worst than she’d done in awhile. I went to take a shower, and when I came out, it was quiet. I saw him sleeping on the recliner in her room, holding her, also asleep. I had heard him try to leave her once, before I started my shower, and heard her start crying, then heard him go back in. Now she’s crying again. I know he’s exhausted, frustrated and stressed, and I feel responsible for his exhaustion and stress because they’re caused by my baby, and that, along with my own stress over the baby’s mysterious behavior right now, has me doubly stressed.

Why does this shit always happen on the weekends when I can’t email my pediatrician?!