Why does parenting sometimes feel so much like camping?

So far, we've been celebrating the new year by not sleeping. Not exactly what I had in mind for this week.

It started on Monday and at first I thought it was because of the trip (Nathan nursed more during the night each day that we traveled over the holidays - interesting lesson).

Then it kept going, each night this week: instead of his usual midnight / 4 am / 8 am feeding times (which have actually been great compared to what it was before), he's been waking up a lot. Like, every two hours. And sometimes, every half an hour.

At first it wasn't that bad but last night he didn't sleep more than 2 hrs during any stretch and (worst of all) sometimes wouldn't go back to sleep after a feeding. He gets frustrated with the breast when the feeding runs out (rips his mouth off violently) but then won't take the finger (it's not the breast!) and won't sleep without sucking. (I would give anything right now for this child to take a soother.)

And the last thing I'm going to do at 5 am is get out of bed. I'd rather spend 20 minutes vigorously patting his back and yelling, "SHHHH!" than stand up for 5 minutes and bounce him.

I never really noticed anything like this with Mela but remember reading something about infant developmental spurts. When he wakes up, sometimes he lies there and opens and closes his hands, almost like he's practicing his claws.

So I went back this morning and searched Moxie and found the post I'd read. She references some research that found that babies go through big developmental spurts (e.g. to master a new skill) that involve intense brain work, which means they don't sleep as well until they've worked through the skill.

Apparently the spurts happen at 5, 8, 12, 19, 26, 37, 46, and 55 weeks. At the time I read it (a year ago), I was kind of skeptical but Nathan just turned exactly 19 weeks on Monday. She actually mentions a "4 month sleep regression."

Uh oh.

Chris is of course skeptical, and thinks that this is just another excuse for Nathan to wear his fussy pants. Apparently, I keep crying wolf (i.e. better baby) and he just doesn't believe it anymore. (Remember 3 months, 10 days?)

The most frustrating part is that things were great over the holidays (which I suppose I should be glad of), and now I feel like everyone thinks we're making the whole fussy-thing up.

The good news is that really, he is much better overall (such big smiles!) and Moxie says that "once a baby has learned the new skill, s/he will often sleep through the entire night for 1-3 nights after mastering the skill."

Apparently all I can do is pray for that day.

p.s. I refuse to post any pictures, just out of sleepless spite.