Trying to keep this brief.
DS is 16 months and doesn't sleep well. He is up several times a night, sometimes for an hour or so, and wakes early. I'm not looking for sleeping advice because his waking is for medical reasons. He is underweight (FTT) and cannot consume solid food yet, so he's on a completely liquid diet. But he's becoming more mobile, so the bigger and more active he gets, the more calories he needs, thus all the waking for milk. We have specialists involved and we're doing what we can in this area, but everyone concurs that he needs all the night feedings still.
DH helps out when he can, but his work schedule doesn't always allow him to. We have no other family available to help.
Anyway... what I am looking for help with is handling my exhaustion and sleep deprivation better. I feel awful about this, but I am starting to lose patience with having my sleep interrupted night after night, and I'm having trouble containing my stress over it. I'm tense when I hold DS when we're awake at night, and I worry that he can sense it in my posture and breathing (OK, sometimes sighing and wimpering). I want to be a loving mama, caring for my baby who needs me, but at 2 AM I'm a resentful cardboard cut-out, or so that's how I feel.
DS is 16 months and doesn't sleep well. He is up several times a night, sometimes for an hour or so, and wakes early. I'm not looking for sleeping advice because his waking is for medical reasons. He is underweight (FTT) and cannot consume solid food yet, so he's on a completely liquid diet. But he's becoming more mobile, so the bigger and more active he gets, the more calories he needs, thus all the waking for milk. We have specialists involved and we're doing what we can in this area, but everyone concurs that he needs all the night feedings still.
DH helps out when he can, but his work schedule doesn't always allow him to. We have no other family available to help.
Anyway... what I am looking for help with is handling my exhaustion and sleep deprivation better. I feel awful about this, but I am starting to lose patience with having my sleep interrupted night after night, and I'm having trouble containing my stress over it. I'm tense when I hold DS when we're awake at night, and I worry that he can sense it in my posture and breathing (OK, sometimes sighing and wimpering). I want to be a loving mama, caring for my baby who needs me, but at 2 AM I'm a resentful cardboard cut-out, or so that's how I feel.
