My plan was to prolong the feeding-free time by one hour each night. I started with 4 hours of feeding-free time. That meant we skipped her favourite meal - her 12 o'clock feeding, but it was perfectly manageable because it was only one hour of postponing and shushing. The next night was a bit more difficult. By third day Erkki had developed a new habit. Each evening he asked, "so... No feeding until 5 a.m. today? Oh THAT will be tough." The next morning I breathed out a sigh of relief that everything is still going by plan. As days went by Erkki's prediction of problems ahead started to get hopeful. "If you keep this up, she won't eat AT ALL during the night." Well yes, that's the general plan.
I was persistent and it paid off. Until I got to the final feedings. Starting from 7 a.m. there is a real risk that if Siiri is awake for an entire minute (
) she might decide she likes being awake. That really tested my skills of getting her back to sleep without feeding. It had been so much easier to just pop in a breast and see baby drift back to sleep. The problem with that was that I couldn't sneak back to bed for the risk of waking her up. So I just took an early morning nap in stead. I had thought if I just don't feed her she won't even wake up at 7 a.m. and I'll get to sleep until morning. I'll be so much better rested without all those nighttime interruptions. However, I overlooked one tiny detail: without all those nighttime interruptions Siiri too was so much better rested and was no longer sleepy after 8 a.m. 
After some experimenting, I reached a compromise for us. I feed her at 8 a.m. and she's welcome to stay awake if she wants to. Except I won't. I give her a few toys to play with and I turn off the baby monitor. I can hear distress-crying without it but I can just sleep thought her "entertain me, mommy"-crying. She's fed and safe and I'm happily asleep. She's already getting used to it. Today she played alone for half an hour. I almost went there to take a peek that she's still okay.
A few nights ago Siiri made her all-time sleep record. She had 10 hours of uninterrupted sleep.
I haven't been so well-rested in months. I am almost able to participate in conversations now, without my brain short-circuiting from all that mental strain. My IQ grew a few points overnight. Oh that's why stereotypical mommies are so simpleminded.
I can honestly say that for a long time it was really difficult to follow a group discussion. It felt like everyone was talking so fast.Sidenote... She's been asleep for nearly an hour and she started crying in the other room. I resisted an urge to get up and go check on her. There's a 3-minute rule I read in a book. If I manage to wait for 3 minutes, my baby might actually fall asleep on her own. Even better if I manage 10 minutes because then it's pretty certain she'll just fall asleep. I had no plan. I just sat and listened. It took 20 seconds for her to fall asleep again.
I also managed to write a decent second draft of the article. It kept me busy for a while. I'm almost happy with it. At least now that it hasn't come back all red with corrections and suggestions. I actually managed to read scientific articles. That's certainly a step beyond social conversations when it comes to mental strain.
Baby Update: Siiri weighed 8,61 kg at her 9-month check-up and she's 70 cm in length. There is hardly a surface she won't use to pull herself up. She learned to make careful side-steps while holding on to furniture and she's actively flexing her legs while standing. Her physical development then went to be background and she has started to pay more attention to words again. She doesn't get tired of the game where she points toward the ceiling lamp and I say "lamp". As simple as that. She can play it in every room and even when we're visiting someone else. And today when I was going to the lab for a little while and waved to Siiri, "Bye Siiri, I'll see you in a couple of hours", Siiri stared with a happy expression and suddenly lifted her hand and waved right back at me!
Super cute!
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