Leighton :: Four Months Old

Oh, what a month it has been.

I've mentioned before how hard it is to get Leighton to bed at night. She's been sleeping in her crib at night since 6 weeks old. Around 8 weeks, we were hit hard with some colicky slash PURPLE crying behavior in the evenings. 

Since then, we've never been able to do our bedtime routine and put her to bed where she'll sleep for 3 or 4 hours before waking to eat again. Instead, we do our bedtime routine at 7pm as we're getting Gracyn ready for bed and spend the next 3 or 4 hours listening to L cry, whine, fuss, fall asleep in our arms only to wake up the second she's lowered into her crib, nurse, refuse to nurse, take a bottle, refuse the bottle and repeat. Once she finally falls asleep (or passes out from sheer exhaustion), she'd usually sleep for 2 or 3 hours and wake up a few times throughout the time to eat. 

We've tried everything to keep her calm at night but nothing seems to work which tells me we're just going to have to wait it out until she gets a little older.

This week, though, has been one for the books. In addition to her throwing a fit and fighting sleep every night, she all of a sudden decided that she will be waking up every 60-90 minutes throughout the entire. night. She also likes to party between the hours of 3 and 5 AM. She's ended up in our bed (which I hate because I sleep even worse making sure I don't roll over and smother her) more than a few times when we've been desperate to get some Zzz's. 

Not cool.

I took her to the doctor on Monday to rule out an ear infection or something else but she checked out perfectly healthy, which I'm happy about - obviously - but I do wish something would explain the horrid nights we've been having. Again, this tells me it's most likely the dreaded 4-month sleep regression and we'll have to tough it out and walk around like zombies until it's over. And I hope it's over soon.

Other than that, we have no complaints! She really is the best baby during the day. Taking 3-4 naps and eating every 3-4 hours. I'm convinced she weighs 37 pounds (ok, more like 16 1/2 but still...) and is getting bigger every day. I love that she loves her big sister. She'll be sitting up in no time and has really taken an interest in grabbing toys and bringing them to her mouth to give them a taste. She still hates the pacifier but will suck on her fist/thumb every once in a while.

Sweet Leighton, we love you more than words. Even when you like to party 'til the break of dawn...