Well, I've gone through a few nights since I last posted... I went back to the source, and re-read portions of The Secrets of the BW, then ordered and read most of The BW Solves all Your Problems, and am even more confused about what I should be doing. BWSAYP says for me to keep my hand on my LO until he falls asleep; I'd been told previously on other boards to let him settle himself. Either way, he's not settling well, easily or quickly.
Last night, he awoke at 3:15, crying, as he'd gotten himself all twisted up in his grobag and his head was up against the crib rails. So I gently moved him, he stopped crying, and I kept my hand on him, waiting for him to settle or even fall asleep. By 5:15, I had had it, mentally and physically. I took him downstairs, put him down on the area rug for a 5-minute timeout for myself, then breastfed him. He then went right back to sleep after taking an entire feeding, or very close to it. Tracy warns of getting a child into the habit of a night feeding, so I'm wary, but it did seem to satisfy him. Or did I just use myself as a pacifier? It's so unclear. We've started solids, sometimes he eats them vigorously, other times he seems less interested. Same goes for BF'ing now. SOmetimes he seems very eager, other times he's distracted and bobbing off. Please tell me whether this is normal, and whether you think I can solve these NWs by just feeding him. If so, I'll accept the way it is and move on. Otherwise, I'm going crazy, trying to extend naps (which are often only 30 minutes these past few days), trying to get him back to sleep at night for over 2 hours. I feel like nothing I do is working, and I've lost confidence in my ability to tell whether my child is hungry or in pain or just in a bad habit.
I had a good cry this morning with DH, who keeps telling me I'm doing a great job, but I feel as though I'm failing my LO somehow, by not providing (or even being able to figure out) what he needs, and by feeling frustrated as I did last night. I know my baby well, and am very attentive to him and conscious of him, but I just can't seem to read him at night. Maybe his messages are muddled through his exhaustion or my own.
Any advice, or commiseration, or even kind words to keep me sane??
Allison