Monday, February 11, 2008

Don't Wake Me Up Sweetheart Sleep Tight !

Mubarak has not woke up for a night feeding ever since he was barely a month old. I have been enjoying uninterrupted sleep almost since forever.. that is ..until last week. Mubarak is not eating as much as he used to and as a result, is drinking a lot more milk than normal. Unfortunately this also means that he now wakes up at 3 in the morning and screams for milk. I have never had to wake up in the middle of the night and considering I was breastfeeding until recently, we do not have any milk making facilities in the bedroom. So, it's a real nightmare having to wake up in the middle of the night, make the trip to the kitchen and having to do it real fast since he is crying for milk at the top of his voice.

Most nights, it is his Abah who has to make the trip to the kitchen so last night, we decided to bring in a small flask, tepid water and milk filled bottles into the bedroom so that we did not have to make the dreaded trip to the kitchen. When he woke up promptly at 3am, I trudged to the milk station and made Mubarak's nightly cap. Strangely he took one sip, took the bottle out of his mouth and shook his head (all the while still sleeping) I kept insisting and he kept shaking his head. Thinking he has changed his mind, I left him in his cot and continued sleeping. Barely a few mins later he screamed bloody murder again and this time despite many attempts by his Abah to give him milk, he also refused. Out of desperation for sleep, I offered him breast milk instead. At 6am he woke up again asking for milk. Clearly the breast milk was not filling enough. Again he refused the milk when his Abah gave it to him. Suddenly his Abah realised why. Instead of filling the hot water and tepid water into the bottle with the pre-measured milk, I had poured the water into a nearly empty bottle - the bottle Mubarak had finished before he fell asleep. No wonder he refused the milk. It was 99.9% water and 0.1% milk residue. In my sleepiness stupor, I must have mistakenly poured it into the wrong bottle.

Umi is so so so sorry Darling. I promise not to do it again. From now on I will make sure ONLY ABAH WAKES UP TO MAKE YOUR MILK IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT!!