Getting Worse

Okay, so the new sleep regime is not yet in place. Part of it is due to a leap, we think, but a lot of the problem is probably teething.

Yesterday, after her good night of sleep (midnight–6:00 a.m.), Celeste didn't want to nap. She finally gave in around 11:00 a.m. or so, but only slept for about a half hour. That afternoon, however, she slept from a bit past 2:00 p.m. until after 5:00 p.m. A three-plus-hour nap into late in the day.

She stayed up a bit late to have dinner with us (whole-wheat pasta and Trader Joe's vegetarian meatballs — neither of us were up to cooking much). During the meal, Celeste gnawed on some pasta and sampled a wheatball, but she really dug her slice of frozen asian pear. By 8:00 p.m. she was in bed, and I wasn't too late behind her, although sleep wasn't coming easy.

Evelin fed her a little before midnight again, but a hour later, she was up again ... and she stayed up for well over an hour. We tried a bunch of soothing tricks (and redosed her with Infant Motrin as soon as she hit the six-hours-since-last-dose mark — sometime around 1:45 a.m.), ranging from various holding postures to letting her come into the big bed to leaving her alone to begging and pleading. Finally she dropped off after an extended bout of comfort nursing and a half-hour before I had to get up to head to the office.

Hopefully, I'll get a call from Evelin in a few hours saying that Celeste slept through until 8:00 a.m., but even if that is the case it leaves me wondering what's in store for tonight.

One of the front incisors is in and the second one is pushing hard at her gums. We're obviously focused on the front teeth, which are the most visible, but she's almost 11 months, so I guess she could have her first molars looking to erupt sometime soon, too. I'm betting that won't be fun for any of us.

UPDATE: (08:12) Well, after I left, Celeste slept straight through until about 7:30 a.m. Evelin said she seemed well rested and ready for the day, but a rash we noticed yesterday evening seems to be spreading around her neck and torso.

We did go a little crazy introducing several new foods at once because we were sharing our food with her (mushrooms and red bell peppers grilled with a marinade that included sesame oil; stuffed grape leaves; veggie burgers; egg yolk; ... all within the past four days, and there may have been one or two other new things, too), so it could be a reaction to that, or it might be because of the dryer sheet that some of her clothes were washed with, or it might be prickly heat or some other ailment due to the hot, humid weather we're having right now. For the moment, she seems not to be bothered by it, so we're going to try to step back a week or two in what she's eating, rewash her clothes, and watch things to see if it clears up or continues to spread.