Last night was my husband’s night to take the baby monitor. I went to bed at 9 and fell asleep immediately. At 10:30 I woke up to the baby HOWLING with rage. After waiting a few minutes to let my husband calm her down, she still wasn’t calming down, so I went into her room. My husband (who had to get up at the ass-crack of dawn for a once-a-year mushroom hunting trip) growled “take this baby!” and thrust her into my arms.
So, I was on unexpected baby duty. Turns out the problem was that her runny nose had turned into full-on congestion. Oh yay.
She fights the snot-sucker like a cat fights a bath, and I tried it once and gave up. I put baby VapoRub on her chest. I offered her a bottle to make her stop yelling. I held her upright for ten minutes. Then I found her bouncy seat and buckled her into that in her crib, so her head could drain while she slept.
All night was a repeating cycle of putting her in the seat, going to bed, getting up when she was fed up with it and taking her out so she could sleep on her mattress for a while, going to bed, getting up when she couldn’t breathe anymore to put her back in the chair…
My sleep came in 1h 15m segments. I got three of them after assuming baby responsibility. Now husband is hunting the mighty morel and I’m alone with her all day. Lawd a mercy.
It’s her first really snotty cold. We all had a head cold around Christmas, but that was more about swelling than about snotting. We were giving her a warm bath right before bed to melt things, then vapo-rubbing her and running a warm steam humidifier. After the first night of that cold she slept with only one or two interruptions a night till she was better. I’m praying this was the only bad night of this cold.
Times like this I was really glad for my Laz-e-boy recliner. Lean back 45 degrees or so, feet propped up, baby on my chest, equipment on the side table: snot-sucker, tissues, bottle for him, water for me. Best way to maximize sleep for all.
Perhaps pop a towel or two under the head end of the cot mattress rather than use the bouncer. That will raise her head enough to help drain, and may help make her sleep easier as she’s free to move about.
Thought about it, then felt dubious because she moves around so much while she sleeps. But maybe if one orientation was clearly more comfortable than another, she’d stay that way. I’ll try it.
Hubby took the monitor last night. We had to arrange her once before we went to bed, then he had to get up three times in the night to move her between mattress and bouncer. Much better than my experience the night before.
Bad news is, I’m getting the cold now. Blllaaahhhhhh.
Now that the baby has calmed down, you need to work on hubby.
If it’s his night, he should handle it, not just hand her off to you like that. And if he’s got to get up early the next morning, he shouldn’t have taken night duty that night.
Don’t forget the saline drops. I wish to god someone had told me how to use them with my firstborn; they’ve been a lifesaver with my second.
Hold 'em down, slightly inclined with head on the lower end (head gently clasped between knees worked best for us) and let two or three drops fall into each nostril. Hold the baby there for 30 seconds (if you can stand it - they’ll be screaming), then use the sucker to clean out that nose. When you’re done, you might put in one or two more drops so their nostrils will stay moist. Remember not to do it too aggressively. It can inflame the lining of the nostrils, making the problem worse.
With my son, we’d hold him down, insert tip of the bottle and squeeze gently. Even a gentle squeeze can introduce too much saline at once into the nostrils and can also inflame the nasal lining instead of helping to loosen things up. I couldn’t imagine how the hell saline would help anyone until after I learned to do it correctly with my daughter. Sometimes if she has a bad enough cold, she actually asks to have some put in her nostrils (she’s 2.5).
Good luck! And I hope it’s your night to sleep (if he gets one off, so do you).
There couldn’t possibly be enough gin in the world. Last night was my night again. We have congestion, conjunctivitis, and now we also have a temperature and vomiting. I got a total of 3h 45m sleep, two-thirds of it after I’d given the monitor to my husband at 4am.
Taking her to the doctor at 9:30. Husband will leave work at noon so I can collapse.
Oh, momma. I feel you. When my little guy gets sick, he always seems to do it on the weekends, too. Great in that he’s usually better by Monday, so we don’t have to miss any work, but on the other hand, there went my weekend. And now I’m sick too. This weekend, we had: fever on Friday, runny nose all day and coughing all night, restless attempts to sleep in my arms (increasingly impossible, as he’s over 25 pounds and right around three feet tall), and a new one - green eye goop. Good times.
I hope both you and your little one feel better soon, and I hope you are sound asleep just a few short hours from now.
Oh, and if you’re picking up more gin, I recommend Hendricks.
Get Dad to hold her down if you have to.