We have been experiencing some challenging times over here. We have had teething, a cold, and now we are at a peak wonder week. Lets just say sleep has been lacking, tears have been flowing and there is crankiness all around. 
Last night was particularly challenging with Edith waking up almost every 1.5 hours and it would take 30-40 minutes to get her to settle and go back to sleep. It is normal for her to wake up 2-3 times per night and we nurse and she is back to bed within 10-20 minutes. Last night it was 30-40 minutes and 20-30 of those minutes involved lots of screaming, flailing around and throwing her head back.
Needless to say no one got any sleep last night.
This morning wasn’t much better either.
Edith started out the morning being pretty cranky and wouldn’t settle down for her morning nap which is usually around 9/9:30am. By 10am she still wouldn’t settle and fought me when I tried to change her diaper. Then she just lost it. We had 10 minutes of inconsolable screaming and crying. There was nothing I could do to get her to calm down and besides the diaper change I have no idea what set it off. Finally after 10 minutes she calmed down, cuddled up to me, nursed and passed out for a good 60-75 minutes.
Post nap we had lunch, a bath (which she loved) and I even got to shower. Then we nursed and Edith fell asleep on me and slept for 2.5 hours (I passed out for a bit too). Then she woke up and she was like a new person, happy, playful and ready to take on the afternoon. The evening was much better and we got out for a quick walk, shared some dinner, watched Yo Gabba Gabba!, crawled around chasing each other, read books, nursed and then Edith settled and went to bed fairly easy.
I blame the crazy night(s) on The Wonder Weeks. Right now Edith is in her Sixth leap in her mental development and according to The Wonder Weeks this often means lots of crankiness. It also means being extremely lovely and quickly going from difficult to extremely lovely <—this has been our life for the last week+. We are trying to manage the fussiness by getting out for walks, taking baths, listening to music, getting out to socialize and lots of cuddling.
At the end of all this (which could be as many as three more weeks) Edith may show the any of the following skills:
- that she knows more words (already seeing this she is starting to say mama – it is a very MOMMMMMA right now)
- makes it clear to you that she finds something dirty
- imitates adults
- recognizes herself in the mirror
- can exaggerate her moods
- plays peek-a-boo with herself
- challenges others to play a game
- claps hands
- begins to practice crawling (Edith started crawling about 6-7 weeks ago but she is crawling way faster now)
Anyone else at the peak of a Wonder Week? How are you handling it?
p.s. this post is NOT sponsored. I had The Wonder Weeks app recommended to me and I finally bought it for $2 last night. I would say for $2 it was worth it.
Oh wow, that sounds rough! Amaliya is two weeks younger than Edith, and we have definitely seen a shift in her behaviour lately. She’s just gotten over an epic, month-long string of colds and she’s teething, which might be part of it… but she’s been sleeping much more restlessly, up every 1-3 hours at night, and for the last few nights she’s been waking up at 1:28am on the dot (seriously) and refuses to settle back to sleep until 2:30 or so. Exhausting! But during the day, she is SO happy. Giggling and smiling more than I’ve ever seen, being very social, playful and alert. I might have to go buy this app now…. I hope this strangeness is all leading up to some big cognitive leap! She’s yet to even roll over back to front, let alone try and crawl yet (I’m okay with the immobility, believe me, buuuut she is going on 8- months now. It’s time!)
That Wonder Week was so horrible for us, too! Like any other W.W., I always think it’s never going to end (and it always does). We just finished the 7th W.W. and luckily Ada slept pretty well throughout it, so hopefully the next one is easier for Edith, too. Good luck!
Thank you for sharing this even though I’m just now really getting into W.W. and coming back to read this. From what I’m reading, it seems like we are in the middle of mental leap 5, which makes Ace’s behavior (mostly sleep issues) the past few weeks more understandable now. It’s the first app I’ve ever paid for but I have a feeling I won’t regret it 🙂