The girl who doesn't sleep

Blogging has been slow - Ellis has turned out to be one of those do-not-nap-in-the-day babies. On top of that, she hates to be put down, meaning that I have to carry her most of the time. I'm happy if she's willing to sit quietly in her bouncy chair, or play on her own in her activity mat. Precious moments are when I have two hands all to myself, baby free. Of course, I can always put her down to free up my hands, but it means an earful of screaming and wailing. And the girl is stubborn. I let her cry it out several times - she can go on crying almost nonstop for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. I'm sure she can go on for longer but I couldn't bear the noise beyond the 2 hour mark. She also lost her voice in the process, so she sounds like a croaky frog now.

The good days are the ones where she is able to nap (rare) - yesterday she fell asleep twice in my arms, and actually managed to continue sleeping when I put her in her bouncy chair, but this lasted no more than 10 minutes. The amazing ones are when she can nap more than an hour but this has happened maybe only 2 times. More likely than not, the minute I slide her away from my chest (once she has fallen asleep) onto the bed, chair etc, she starts to stir, her face scrunches up and I know the inevitable wailiing will start UNTIL I pick her up.

The one respite is when we go out. Most times, she sleeps outside and is less cranky than when she's home. Perhaps she's bored at home.

The good bit - and thankfully there is one - is that she gets drowsy in the evening so I tried to work out a bedtime routine for her. It started off quite nicely - I would nurse and put her to bed around 8pm and she managed to sleep throughout with one feed in between. On occasion she can sleep from 8pm to 8am all the way without a feed. Nowadays she won't nap in the day, and sleeps anytime from 9 to 10pm with one feed in between. Last night was the worst. She didn't sleep till 5vish in the a.m. ......