sleep and the 7 week old

I know I shouldn't compare kids but every step of the way with Daphne, in large part thanks to this blog which triggers my memory of Elias at the same stages, I can't help but look/think back to what baby #1 was doing at the same time (and occasionally looking ahead to see what baby #2 might be doing in the weeks to come). I don't remember Elias having quite the textbook 6 to 8 week peak in typical newborn fussiness (his was perhaps more spread out, thanks to the reflux), but Daphne definitely has been experiencing it (well, let's hope it's the peak and she'll turn a corner any day now!). Similar to Elias, however, she gave us a great night of sleep on the 6 week mark, in bed by the time Elias was, around 8 p.m., and waking only twice to eat, after first a five- and then another four-hour stretch, with a final, very restless two hours of sleep before she was "up for the day."

That was followed by a fairly hellish week of incredibly fussy, almost inconsolable evenings, later bedtimes, and an increase in nighttime feedings. Initially I thought it might be the relatively mild reflux (relative to big brother) getting worse (as it very well might until the typical 4 month peak), but after the weekend it's clear she was at least in part reacting to her very first cold. It's tough being second-born with a preschooler for a big brother. All of us have been sick in the last few weeks so I guess it was inevitable that she'd get some form of the bug. Fortunately it only lasted about 3 days. A pink, watery eye prompted a visit to the pediatrician on Saturday (gotta love weekend hours!) but the doc was unconcerned as her lungs were clear and she had no fever. She got over it pretty quickly and has been much mellower the last couple of days. Evenings are still tough, though - at least, last night was. Every day I have (perhaps false) hope that that night will be different. She's teased us with a few nights like the one at the 6 week mark but for the most part our evenings involve tag teaming dinner, clean-up, bath(s) for one or both kids, occasional cluster feeding, a typically bedtime-resistant almost 5 year old finally getting in bed sometime between 7:30 and 8 and then an hour or two after that of finally getting Daphne to conk out. The late bedtime wouldn't bother me so much if she just wanted to be awake. She's clearly done for the day by about 7 p.m. lately but she just can't seem to settle down until much later. Once she's out her nights are not bad. She typically only wakes twice to eat with each stretch increasingly restless, but the first stretch of 4 to 5 hours is usually pretty solid. For that reason, even if she does conk out by or shortly after Eli's 8 p.m. bedtime, I don't dare stay up much after. In an 8 to 10 hour stretch I'm lucky to get 6 or 7 cobbled together hours of sleep. I don't mind the sleep deprivation so much but I do miss my evenings. As it is there's no break between daytime and nighttime shenanigans but I guess that goes with the territory, right?