The sleep swap - Jonah vs David

David is finally sleeping a much longer stretch at night. He has previously been waking up about twice or three times at night; 12:00, 3:00, 6:00. His final 6AM feeding seems to be his normal morning wake time. I am not a big fan of that mostly because he pushes it little by little until I am waking with him at 5:30 sometimes. I try to put him back to bed and he usually plays quietly and then nods off. 

Lately he has been sleeping quiet a bit more. Now he goes to bed about 7pm and wakes around 5am or so for his only feeding. Today he went back to sleep until 8 after that feeding. He seems to be storing up and sleeping a lot so I imagine he is growing or making some sort of huge development. When he isn't sleeping these days he is either crawling, pulling himself to stand up, or eating. Today he sat in his high chair for over an hour, eating and eating and eating. I felt like I could just not fill the kid up. He had most of a whole pear cut up into chunks, zucchini and peach puree with oatmeal mixed in, and a half a banana. He was still hungry so I also gave him cheerios and made him a scrambled egg. I was amazed by his hunger! And after he finished with all the food what do you think he wanted to do? Sleep of course!

With all of the sleep David is doing, you would think I would also be one well rested mama, but you would be wrong! With four kids, when one is sleeping well, there is always someone else waiting to mess with you. Jonah has been the big bad non sleeper. Last night he was awake from 2ish till about 4ish. Not good! This is not the first time the boy has woken up for hours on end during the dead of the night. I don't know what triggers this and can not figure out how to deal with it. It is psychological torture! I sit in his dark room hoping for him to fall asleep, wondering why he is awake, what I have done or could do differently. I wonder if he has eaten something that is bugging him and keeping him awake. I wonder if his room is too cold or too dark. I wonder if maybe he doesn't need his nap anymore...he got too much sleep or not enough....he is scared and just needs our presence. I worry that he is going to be a super grump the following day. I start stressing and get very anxious about having to deal with him the next day with my lack of sleep and his. 

I really have no idea...although I have thought once or twice that he just does not know how to self sooth because he doesn't have a pacifier. If only he would have sucked his thumb like his big sister, she's really good at going to sleep and getting all the rest she needs So what is a mom to do? I gave him back his crib, should I give him back his pacifier too in order to stay sane and get some sleep? I back and forth thinking that he just needs us to be patient with him, cuddling him when he needs it, singing to him or telling a story - to thinking that we need to be much more strict with him (ie no songs or stories when he wakes up at night).