It's a reflux thing.

The alternate title is: If your kid sleeps through the night I hate you.

OK, just kidding. I don't hate you, but I am green with envy. That is saying a lot because I'm not really a jealous person, but when I hear of babes sleeping through the night I feel a twinge of envy and wish it were me. The other morning at my mom's group, a friend of mine was lamenting how amazing she feels now that her 2 month old is sleeping from 9 PM to 8 AM without waking. WTF? 2 months old?!

M2 was not a good sleeper as an infant. She didn't consistently sleep through the night until she was 1 year old, and since then she's had a few bouts of night time wake ups here and there (right now she's going through a phase where it takes an hour+ to get her to fall asleep at night). P5 has never slept through the night. He has had a few nights here and there where he only woke up once or twice in the night, but those kind of nights are very rare. Lately he's been waking 3-4 times a night. Like, every 2-3 hours. At 5+ months old, and nearly 18 lbs heavy, I just don't understand what the problem is here - he is waking at newborn intervals! This mama is tired. So tired.

The only thing I can chalk it up to is that maybe it's a reflux thing? Both my kids had/have bad reflux. M2 took Prevacid until she was 1, and P5 is still on it. Because of their reflux, I've always been told to feed them less but more often, and P5 is definitely in the habit of snacking on the boob throughout the day. Obviously this makes sense as to why neither of them really tanks up and goes to sleep for the night when they're used to eating a bit here and there. We've started P5 on solids feeding him a mixture of rice cereal with a fruit or veggie in the late evening. About an hour after his solids, I've nursed him to sleep (this is usually around 10 or 11) and he'll sleep good until about 1 or 2 AM. I had hoped that the solids would help fill him up, but no such luck. I'm desperate for some good sleep, and I'm hoping he's just in another growth spurt and will be sleeping better soon.

On a positive, last night was the first night in over a month that P5 slept in the bassinet for the whole night! He woke up at 2, 5, and 7 to eat, but each time he went back to sleep in the bassinet without throwing a fit. So we are making progress there.