Here is a funny story…
Last week was a pretty rough week for all of us. Micah refused to sleep at nights and was fussy during the days. It was really hard on Jessica because she had to deal with a screamy baby 24-7 and it made it impossible for Seth to recharge at home. None of us got more than couple of hours of sleep each night and we felt like zombies.
Up until this past week, Micah was an easy baby so we were very concerned about this new behavior. We came up with all sorts of diagnosis for Micah from teething to separation anxiety. We tried everything to console him and to get him to fall asleep. We sang to him, we let him cry it out (this was the most difficult), we even let him sleep in our bed with us. Interestingly, as soon as he hit one of our pillows, he immediately fell asleep. BAD NEWS. Although we desperately wanted to sleep, we didn’t want our bed to become a communal bed!
Last night, we tried once again to get him to sleep in his own crib. We went through all the daily bed time rituals but like the previous nights, Micah just screamed and cried. When Jessica finally got him to calm down a little bit, she noticed that Micah had a hard time finding a comfortable sleeping position. This got her thinking… maybe he’s just not comfortable in his bed. Maybe it’s the mattress or maybe it’s too cold in his room.
Then she remembered about the pillow. It’s a special donut-shaped pillow used to prevent plagiocephaly (flat-head) that Micah used from the time he was born. We took it away couple of weeks ago because we were afraid that he could suffocate from it- he’s much more squirmy now. These pillows are really recommended for newborns and wouldn’t help so much at this age anyway. Nevertheless, Jessica put the pillow under his head and Micah fell asleep within seconds! In fact, he slept for 9 hours straight last night!!!
All Micah wanted was his pillow! He wasn’t sick. He wasn’t hungry. He wasn’t suffering from teething or even experiencing separation anxiety. He just wanted his pillow.
By the way, all of our worries about him suffocating from the pillow have been put to rest. He’s strong enough to change positions and move things around if he’s having trouble breathing.
