Why M won't nap!

Our day time naps have become an every day battle, nay, war now, as I mentioned in an earlier post. Read on the complete list of arguments put forth by her highness:

• "I am not sleepy."

• "I am not sleepy AT ALL."

• "I am so hungry."

• "I am so thirsty."

• "I am too tired to sleep."

• "I have some important work to do."

• "I cannot see properly with my eyes closed."

• "I cannot breathe when I close my eyes."

• "I need to go potty."

• "I want the fan to go away from the room."

• "I cannot close my eyes because there are tears in my eyes."

• "If I sleep, I will cry."

• "I am missing daddy."

• "I am so very hungry."

• "I don't like sleeping"

I already spotted my first grey hair and boy, don't I know what has caused it.

From the horse's mouth...

Had to put this on record. After getting fed up of my incessant cribbing on lack of sleep, my mommy finally conceded and gave me the true milestone. She says I will get to sleep for longer hours only when Manya is done with school. She talks out of her first hand experience at raising too hell-breakers for kids. Sigh. She never ever told me this before I got pregnant :D.

Looks like my sleep quota's exhausted!

Irrespective of whether you know the art of power nap or not, you will agree that atleast 6 hours of sleep at night remains non-negotiable. 6 hours! Damn! There was a time I needed 9 to 10 hours of sleep every night. I used to joke about it when people raised eyebrows - for all the energy I spent during the day, I had to have that 'recharge' time. 

So, very obviously, Sleep and I have shared a beautiful relationship since the longest I can remember. I could sleep anywhere, anytime, anyhow. I slept entire weekends with barely any wakeful time. Long, boring train journeys, bus rides, car rides, plane rides: I could and would sleep to my heart's content. 

Then 11/6 happened! 

It was like our relationship status went from 'happily married' to 'no longer see each other', overnight. They said at 6 weeks for sure I'd get atleast 3 hours of uninterrupted sleep. No luck. 

Then, I was the told, at 3 months, life would magically change overnight and we both (mommy and baby) would be sleeping for longer stretches. Haa! 

We are reaching the 5-month mark now, and 2 hours of continuous sleep happens only on days I am very lucky. The pediatrician gave me some gyaan on 'sleep regression' in 4-month olds - emphasizing it was "all normal". So, that's the thing with parenthood, all you end up with is truckloads of jargon for all the annoying stuff and a mutated meaning of 'normalcy'. 

The verdict?

They say, the half year mark will be the turning point. 

Only for Bollywood buffs: I feel like the Sunny Deol of Damini. "Tareeq par tareeq par tareeq milti rahi hai, par insaaf nahin mila." (Translated as: All that was given was one date after the other. But, justice was never given).

Sigh.

Ask me again, "Is it really that bad"? 

I swear it is! I have slept for 3 hours at a go on exactly two nights. No, don't even begin to tell me babies have phases that come and go. Ofcourse I know that. All that I want to know is in exactly which phase do I get to sleep?

And thus, my latest theory: God has allotted a fixed number of sleep hours to everyone. Something like the limited quantity of the chocolate ice cream in your refrigerator. You can have it all at one go or have a little and make it last for a very long time. Looks like, I have exhausted my sleep quota! How else do you explain other mommas getting to sleep 4-6 hours already?

Special note to all the parents-to-be: Use your sleep quota very wisely. Someone up there is keeping an account!