So.... our month away in Scotland went well for Myla. She adjusted so well there, in fact, apart from being extra tired and going to bed early that first day of arrival (we were ALL tired actually, not just her), jet lag didn't seem to affect her at all.
I thought... wow what a trooper, my baby REALLY IS such a good sleeper. Even after crossing 7 time zones, she is able to sleep on demand in the evening and won't wake up until 10-12 hours later. (She has been sleeping through the night since 2 months plus, and was 6months old when we went to Scotland).
She is now 7 months old, we just got back to Singapore a few days ago. Ohmaigad. Her clock is haywire.
The first evening, the shocker was when she woke up at 11pm. WTF is this? Maybe she's hungry, so I fed her, but she would not go back to sleep. So I was up to entertain her until 3am. Then she just knocked her self out into dreamland like magically. I counted back the clock and it made sense, it's 8pm UK time (I usually put her to bed at 7.30ish). She's on the UK clock.
Also, she will sleep deeply at 3am... all the way until I wake her up at 9 or 10 am. If I don't wake her up, I think she will sleep her usual 10 to 12 hour stretch.
Well, anyway, it has been happening for several nights now. Nothing soothes her back to sleep, not bouncing, not baby wearing, etc etc. Both David and myself are jet lagged too, but the difference is... when we cannot sleep at night, we make ourselves sleep, or go on Facebook or whatever ... we don't bang our heads on the cot screaming and crying.
I've tried to leave her in the cot, see if she would get tired and bored and just go to bed. But she didn't, she started crawling around in there (she can't really hold her head up when she crawls yet.. so I could hear her creep and smack her head on the mattress.) 15 minutes later, the situation was no better, plus she twacked her head on the cot rails quite hard *sad face*, so I carried her out, and went into the living room so she would not keep David awake with her crying. He gets frustrated with it easily, shouting at her to SHUT UPPPPPP. So it doesn't help the situation.
Anyway, so yeah, I just sit with her in the dark in the living room, with some quiet, relaxing play with her. She likes it and stops crying. But I also don't want to make it a habit man. 11pm to 3 am.
I read up online and it seems that travelling West to East (Like UK to SE Asia or worse still, UK to Australia) is far harder to cope with than the other way round. No wonder we didn't get any jetlag flying from SG to UK/ East to West).
I suppose if your baby doesn't sleep through the night or is a bad sleeper anyway, you will not see the difference jet lag makes. Maybe the jet lag might even help! But for Myla, because she has been such a consistent sleeper, the difference now is literally like night and day. And I'm panicking because I don't want to go back to the times with sleepless nights.. not after all the effort I put in to sleep train her and establish a routine that works.
I let her have her usual naps in the afternoon, but I can tell it's not her usual nap.. in a sense that it's so DEEP. It looks like her night time sleep, only difference is I wake her after 45 mins or 1 hour (her usual nap duration). And in the early night time, her sleeps are light, almost as if she is taking naps, and wakes up after an hour, wanting to play/drink milk.
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| StoneHaven |
She is now 7 months old, we just got back to Singapore a few days ago. Ohmaigad. Her clock is haywire.
The first evening, the shocker was when she woke up at 11pm. WTF is this? Maybe she's hungry, so I fed her, but she would not go back to sleep. So I was up to entertain her until 3am. Then she just knocked her self out into dreamland like magically. I counted back the clock and it made sense, it's 8pm UK time (I usually put her to bed at 7.30ish). She's on the UK clock.
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| We spent part of the holiday at David's parents house |
At first I thought maybe after being away from her crib for a month, she is no longer used to being in a crib, she wants to sleep in our bed (cos she been sleeping in the same bed with us on holiday). Tried that because I was desperate, but it made no difference here. Good also, I don't want her in our bed, too risky... there's David, who has the tendency to put heavy limbs over me and Lola, and there's Lola, whom I love to bits but you cannot trust a dog with a baby (I can't supervise their interaction if I'm asleep!).Also, she will sleep deeply at 3am... all the way until I wake her up at 9 or 10 am. If I don't wake her up, I think she will sleep her usual 10 to 12 hour stretch.
Well, anyway, it has been happening for several nights now. Nothing soothes her back to sleep, not bouncing, not baby wearing, etc etc. Both David and myself are jet lagged too, but the difference is... when we cannot sleep at night, we make ourselves sleep, or go on Facebook or whatever ... we don't bang our heads on the cot screaming and crying.
I've tried to leave her in the cot, see if she would get tired and bored and just go to bed. But she didn't, she started crawling around in there (she can't really hold her head up when she crawls yet.. so I could hear her creep and smack her head on the mattress.) 15 minutes later, the situation was no better, plus she twacked her head on the cot rails quite hard *sad face*, so I carried her out, and went into the living room so she would not keep David awake with her crying. He gets frustrated with it easily, shouting at her to SHUT UPPPPPP. So it doesn't help the situation.
Anyway, so yeah, I just sit with her in the dark in the living room, with some quiet, relaxing play with her. She likes it and stops crying. But I also don't want to make it a habit man. 11pm to 3 am.
I read up online and it seems that travelling West to East (Like UK to SE Asia or worse still, UK to Australia) is far harder to cope with than the other way round. No wonder we didn't get any jetlag flying from SG to UK/ East to West).
I suppose if your baby doesn't sleep through the night or is a bad sleeper anyway, you will not see the difference jet lag makes. Maybe the jet lag might even help! But for Myla, because she has been such a consistent sleeper, the difference now is literally like night and day. And I'm panicking because I don't want to go back to the times with sleepless nights.. not after all the effort I put in to sleep train her and establish a routine that works.
I let her have her usual naps in the afternoon, but I can tell it's not her usual nap.. in a sense that it's so DEEP. It looks like her night time sleep, only difference is I wake her after 45 mins or 1 hour (her usual nap duration). And in the early night time, her sleeps are light, almost as if she is taking naps, and wakes up after an hour, wanting to play/drink milk.
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| Back in SG, Myla has exhausted me, pic courtesy of David, thanks ah :/ |
HOPE THIS PASSES SOON. I will take her swimming tomorrow in the sunshine, hopefully that will reset her circadian (?) rhythm.
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