The Perfect Storm

Kassi got her first cold...

We've had a rough start to 2013.  We started the year with a Family Reunion in Idaho, which resulted in everyone getting a cold.  Jeremy, Sami, Ally, and I have barely been bothered by it, but Emmy and Kassi got it the worse.  It was Kassi's first real cold and she was lost on how to deal with it.  However, before it actually hit (and the day after we got back) I took Kassi in for her 6 month check up and she got her 6 month shots.  At the appointment, we got the 'all clear' to feed Kassi all forms of protein except straight milk.  That night, we had beans with our dinner, so I gave her some. 

So that Monday night, Kassi had sore legs and a fever from the shots, a tummy ache from the beans, and the cold hit which made it impossible for her to breath and suck on her binkie at the same time.  It was the Perfect Storm and my poor baby was Miserable.  She screamed for four hours and then cried off and on the rest of the night.  We got very little sleep.  The nights that followed were a little better because we only had to deal with the stuffy nose.  But we were cranky and exhausted and not feeling our best and I was too willing to feed her at night and let her sleep in my arms.  It only took three nights and the bad habits were created.  Now, the little girl who used to be my excellent sleeper is up almost every hour.  I don't know what to do.  I'm exhausted.  She's exhausted.  We are all miserable.  It's time for sleep training.  Yuck.

 

That was last week...

Today...

 

We've been sleep training but it's slow going--I can't let her scream too much in the middle of the night because she wakes everyone else up, so I've been refusing to pick her up but I'm still in her room making sure she doesn't get too worked up until she goes back to sleep.  She's much happier today but I'm dealing with an exhaustion headache and nauseousness from not sleeping.  Somehow my body got trained to wake up every time I start to drift off.  (Probably has to do with the fact that my older kids have been having rough nights lately and between the four of them and Jeremy's stressful sleeplessness from work, I've been getting tag-teamed.)  So even when she's sleeping, I can't get to sleep.  I'm soooo tired.  Anyone know of a good sleeping pill you can take while nursing that doesn't make your baby more fussy?