Oh, how I hate the 5 am feeding
I'm very lucky: Werner handles most of the night feedings. The one happy legacy of our early breastfeeding near-disaster is that Jakob will take a bottle as happily as he'll take, well, me, and so Werner has been taking care of a disproportionate share of night feedings.1 It started with him taking the first of two nighttime feeds, and when one disappeared he just kept at it anyway. Yay for me!
But now that Werner's teaching, my free ride has come to an end. On his school nights, I feed the baby. And, unfortunately for me, the one remaining feed generally starts between 4:30 and 5:30 am.
Honestly, I'd rather be up for two or even three other feedings earlier in the night than that one single late-night/early-morning feed. By the time I'm done and back in bed, it is around 6, if not later. I've never sleep well, or easily, so I often fall asleep just a few minutes before Werner's alarm sounds. I manage to get a few minutes of sleep while he showers, but really I'm basically up at 4:30 or so.
Each time, as I settle Jakob back in his crib, I debate just staying up. I know I won't get much sleep (self-fulfilling prophesy, yes), but my days are so long, unchanging, and unending, that I never want to start the day even a minute earlier than absolutely necessary. Add in the darkness and cold, and facing the day - for good - at 4:30 is not at all appealing.
1 My theory is that he acts out of self-defence: I was so cranky from lack of sleep that he had little choice but to intervene if we were going to continue to live under the same roof.
But now that Werner's teaching, my free ride has come to an end. On his school nights, I feed the baby. And, unfortunately for me, the one remaining feed generally starts between 4:30 and 5:30 am.
Honestly, I'd rather be up for two or even three other feedings earlier in the night than that one single late-night/early-morning feed. By the time I'm done and back in bed, it is around 6, if not later. I've never sleep well, or easily, so I often fall asleep just a few minutes before Werner's alarm sounds. I manage to get a few minutes of sleep while he showers, but really I'm basically up at 4:30 or so.
Each time, as I settle Jakob back in his crib, I debate just staying up. I know I won't get much sleep (self-fulfilling prophesy, yes), but my days are so long, unchanging, and unending, that I never want to start the day even a minute earlier than absolutely necessary. Add in the darkness and cold, and facing the day - for good - at 4:30 is not at all appealing.
1 My theory is that he acts out of self-defence: I was so cranky from lack of sleep that he had little choice but to intervene if we were going to continue to live under the same roof.
posted by Melanie A at 10:18 a.m.
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