Tonight

Little Miss is 3+ months old.  Something within the last two weeks has changed.  I know she's gotten bigger, more aware of the things around her, learned to roll over, and found her feet.  Boy she loves those feet!  But something has changed that hasn't been for the better, for either of us.  Her sleeping habits.  I swear she slept better as a one-month-old than she does at three.  She would sleep 6+ hours wake up to eat and go right back to sleep.  Now I'm lucky if she sleeps 3 or 4 hours and MAYBE will go back to sleep...but not likely.  I thought babies were supposed to get better at sleeping as they got older...

Anyway...I have been painstakingly trying to figure out what might be the cause.  My husband knows this all too well.  I have been running through the different possibilities over and over each night as I lay awake in bed.  Each night I think I come to a different conclusion...

Teething...

Too hot...

Rolling on her belly...

Not liking the swaddle...

Too much sleep during the day...

Not enough sleep during the day...

Hungry/growth spurt...

More aware of what's going on and not wanting to miss ANYTHING (even when there's nothing going on at 4 AM)...

or ALL OF THE ABOVE!

It comes down to one very scary thing to me.  I have to get her out of that swaddle because no matter which one of the above options it is, that swaddle seems to be giving her fits.  I have been avoiding this because she slept SO GOOD for the longest time in her swaddle, and on a now rare good night when she sleeps 6+ hours in a row she is swaddled.  However, this cannot last.  She (and I) must eventually break free. 

Unfortunately breaking free is going to involve some nights that are worse.  But this HAS TO HAPPEN before school starts up again.  I can go on only a few hours of sleep when I don't have to go teach middle schoolers the next day. 

So, training starts tonight.