Sleepy Girl

Last night Ellie decided she did not want to go to sleep.  She has been fighting sleep lately, but not to the extent that she did last night.  I took a nap in the afternoon since Eugene was home, and she was awake when he handed her off to me at 5 so he could leave for his spin class.  She had been fed, changed, and was swaddled.  All ingredients for a sleepy baby.  Except she wasn't.  In the next 4 hours, she ate a bottle and a half and would doze off in my arms, but wake up the second I even thought about putting her down.  I tried everything I could think of.  We rocked in the glider, read two Curious George stories, walked around the apartment, she sat in the swing, and nothing worked.  She would cry because she was so tired but still wouldn't sleep.

She has started doing this weird thing where she strains to pull herself into a sitting position while being cradled in my arms.  She does this when she starts falling asleep, like she's trying to wake herself back up.  She is such a happy baby, but when she is overtired she is miserable.  It is so frustrating to know what the issue is but not be able to do anything about it.  I can feed her, I can change her diaper, but I can't make her go to sleep.  She made it until about 9:30 before passing out.  Despite the frustration of last night, it may have been a good thing.  She slept until 2, ate, got a clean diaper, and then was back to sleep in her bassinet by 3.  It is almost 6am and she is still asleep.

She has put herself on a loose schedule, and sometimes sleeps 4-5 hours at a time at night.  I have tried reading books about putting your baby on a schedule, and it just doesn't feel right to me.  I am more comfortable with letting her lead the way when it comes to her hunger and level of tiredness.  We do have a routine during the day, but I know we need to come up with a better bedtime routine.  She isn't even 7 weeks, so I figure we still have some wiggle room before I need to really establish that. At least, I hope that is the case and that I am not setting her up for the sleep problems that I grew up with.