Just a phase

I think one of the really frustrating things about motherhood right now is that everything seems to be a phase. Sometimes I'm relieved to know that Brady is just going through a phase, like when he used to scream whenever he was in his car seat, or when he would scream and cry while I was feeding him baby food. But sometimes when he's doing really well with something, suddenly I'm crushed to learn that maybe that too was just a phase.

The babe WAS sleeping really well a month or two ago. For several weeks in a row he would go down for bed at about 7:30 and sleep until about 5:30am when he would wake to eat and then go back to sleep for 3 more hours. Sometimes he wouldn't even wake up to eat at 5:30, so I would go in and wake him around 6 to feed him and ensure a few more hours of sleep for both of us.

After a few weeks of GREAT sleep, he started waking up around 2:30 and not going back down unless I fed him then. I really don't want to feed him that early because I don't want him to start expecting a 2:30am feeding, but sometimes it's the only way to get him to go back down. Once I feed him he's up 3 hours later to eat again...and for the past few weeks, he's been waking up for good around 6:30. AHHH. Some nights he even wakes up at midnight screaming until I go in and soothe him back to sleep. Needless to say, Mama's getting TIRED.

It's so frustrating because I KNOW he can sleep all night. He's done it so many times. I haven't changed anything in his routine. I feed him the same amount of food (if not more), than I did when he was sleeping well, so I don't actually believe he's waking up hungry. And when he does wake up before it's time to eat again, he's not crying himself back to sleep like he used to. He sits up (or sometimes stands up) in his crib and just screams.

We were doing so well and I really thought that I finally had a good sleeper on my hands a few months ago. Waking up once during the night was just fine for me. But now waking up 2, 3, and sometimes even FOUR times a night with an 8.5 month old really stinks!

If the good sleep was just a phase, can we go back to it?!?