Oct 31, 2011  •  In Aerin, Baby, Blogging, Claire, Personal

Happy Halloween!

Psst! I’m guest blogging over at She Likes Ruffles, He Likes Truffles today! Head on over and say hi! And be sure to check out rest of Katie’s blog, which is always filled with great anecdotes and eye candy in the way of food, fashion, and life in sunny Florida!


Happy Halloween, everyone! Seeing as I’m about to pop out a baby any second, we are not doing anything to celebrate this year. (We don’t even get any trick-or-treaters here!) To compensate, here’s a picture of Claire in her Princess Leia costume, taken 4 months ago:

Speaking of Claire, she has been acting differently for the past few days. While she has been a very good sleeper since she was about 7 months old, she has started to fight every nap and bedtime tooth and nail. She has started to wake up at least once a night and the only way we can get her to go back to sleep is by J cuddling with her in the rocker. (We have not seen this behavior since before we sleep-trained at 5 months.) She normally loves bathtime, but she has also started to cry every time we start the bath — and will usually continue to cry and resist through the bath — because she knows that baths are part of her bedtime routine.

Her ear infection cleared up within just a couple of days, and so did the rash, so we’re really not sure what is prompting the change in behavior. We’ve made a possible list of causes:

  • We had coddled her quite a bit while she was sick — did she get used to this treatment and now expects it?
  • She is going through a growth spurt. Contrary to what I had believed prior to becoming a mom, babies do not grow gradually but in spurts, and some of them can be quite painful on their bodies.
  • She knows that a big change is coming and is acting out as a result.

Can anyone think of any other possible explanations for her sudden change in sleeping habits?

Our 12-month checkup, which has been delayed an entire month, is later today so we will definitely be bringing this up to the pediatrician.

In BebeDeux news, I think I have started to have some minor contractions today. I know that it may still be a while before I go into full labor, so I am not too worried…just very, very uncomfortable because they feel like period cramps!

BebeDeux has also been moving a lot less today, and I have been pooping like crazy — sorry if TMI —which are both signs of impending labor, so D-Day (“D” for delivery) may be very near! So if you haven’t entered the baby pool yet, today may be the time to do it!

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3 Responses to “Happy Halloween!”

  1. greenellephant says:

    You guys are in my prayers! And I can’t wait to meet bebedeux!

  2. Jessica says:

    Julia just turned one a few days ago and has been going through something very similar – an emotional regression of sorts. Some of it is teething-related, since she’s getting her molars now. But I think a larger part of it is a mental growth spurt that happens right around 55 weeks. (http://www.amazon.com/stimulate-development-predictable-magical-forward/dp/9079208043/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320094112&sr=8-1) Generally, these fussy phases don’t bother Julia too much but this one is a doozy for her. She’s been clingy, waking up at night, struggling with naptimes, etc. Putting her to bed earlier than usual has helped a little, but I think it’s just something to ride out. Of course, we’re not out of it yet so no advice but hopefully here’s some luck!

  3. Rachel says:

    I’ve just weaned Maya from being fed to sleep at night and while she did great at first just having her bottle and then going to sleep if I lay next to her (she co-sleeps in our bed so if i leave her to it she just gets up!), the last week or so she has been a nightmare, wriggling all over the place and just not wanting to settle down until she gets overtired and has a crying fit. Sometimes I’ve had to resort to strapping her in her pushchair as it’s the only way I can force her to stay still and relax. She’s also started crying at bathtime but it’s not part of her bedtime routine so I don’t think the 2 are linked. I think it’s just a developmental thing with developing independence – they don’t want to go to sleep when being awake is so much more fun! She also could be teething or a whole number of things. I think you can’t expect consistency in a baby’s sleep pattern until they’re at least 2 years old :p
    still so excited for the arrival of Bebedeux! I’ll be watching the blog 🙂

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