I am very happy to say that for several weeks now, Emme has been sleeping through the night. More importantly, for the last several weeks, I have been sleeping through the night. Now lots of baby sleep books say that a baby is officially "sleeping through the night" when they go six hours or more at a stretch. Emme was doing that by probably 12 or 16 weeks. When I mentioned to a classmate recently that Emme was finally sleeping through, my professor said, "Oh, our kids all did that really early. My wife would just bring them to bed and nurse them there." That, my friends, is a man talking. A man who does not understand that waking to nurse a baby, even one in bed with you, is not consecutive sleep. And I, for one, never slept well when the baby was actually in bed with me. So to me, "sleeping through the night" means that baby goes down to bed at night and doesn't wake up (or wake me up) until it's time to get up in the morning. For both my kids, that's meant 12-hour night. Down at 7pm, up at 7am, or thereabouts. And it's happened for both around 9 or 10 months. Not as early as I'd like, but I made it with both of them. And I do mean me. Wes helps a little as he's able, but he'll readily admit that 99% or more of the times that a kid got up, I was the one to get up with them -- to nurse, to rock, to soothe, or whatever. I don't think I could ever do the hard core sleep training, so it's a gift to me that they both finished night waking around the time that I was really read to be done, too.
Emme has been occasionally sleeping through the night for a few months, but sometimes she would get up much more often -- especially when sick or teething. A few weeks ago, I made an effort to let her fuss a little longer when she woke up, and she made the turn and the full night became a consistent thing. I would go up if she woke up screaming loudly -- something that came with her two bottom teeth -- or if she was still crying after several minutes, especially if it was escalating. But usually he night cries were almost half-hearted. Like maybe she wasn't even totally awake. So I let her go, and she's learned to either find her pacifier (which she only uses when sleeping) or go back to sleep. She slept through a few nights before our trip to Chicago and then did it for two of the three nights my mom was here with her. I cannot tell you how much better rested I feel. How I can stay up a little later at night to work because I know I'll get at least eight hours in a row.
I have been relatively lucky where sleep is concerned. I've done better with the lack of sleep than I thought I would when first pregnant, and that seems to be something that varies by chidl. The kids would be up every 3-4 hours, but it was extremely rare that I was up for any reason other than to nurse, and they were usually back down within 10 minutes. I did go through a period when I rifled at people who said to me, "Well, if she only gets up once at night, that's not bad." I mean seriously -- who gets up every single night in the middle of the night and thinks, "Well, that's not bad"? No one. It's not fun. Especially after a fairly restless third trimester. That's like a full year of inconsistent sleep. Without any real naps.
I'll gladly do it again when the time comes. Much as I like my sleep (especially in my recently redecorated bedroom -- pictures soon to come on the other blog), I don't mind sharing little bits of that time to snuggle with warm, cuddly bodies who immediately calm down when momma picks them up.
In the mean time, though, I'll be in bed.
Emme has been occasionally sleeping through the night for a few months, but sometimes she would get up much more often -- especially when sick or teething. A few weeks ago, I made an effort to let her fuss a little longer when she woke up, and she made the turn and the full night became a consistent thing. I would go up if she woke up screaming loudly -- something that came with her two bottom teeth -- or if she was still crying after several minutes, especially if it was escalating. But usually he night cries were almost half-hearted. Like maybe she wasn't even totally awake. So I let her go, and she's learned to either find her pacifier (which she only uses when sleeping) or go back to sleep. She slept through a few nights before our trip to Chicago and then did it for two of the three nights my mom was here with her. I cannot tell you how much better rested I feel. How I can stay up a little later at night to work because I know I'll get at least eight hours in a row.
I have been relatively lucky where sleep is concerned. I've done better with the lack of sleep than I thought I would when first pregnant, and that seems to be something that varies by chidl. The kids would be up every 3-4 hours, but it was extremely rare that I was up for any reason other than to nurse, and they were usually back down within 10 minutes. I did go through a period when I rifled at people who said to me, "Well, if she only gets up once at night, that's not bad." I mean seriously -- who gets up every single night in the middle of the night and thinks, "Well, that's not bad"? No one. It's not fun. Especially after a fairly restless third trimester. That's like a full year of inconsistent sleep. Without any real naps.
I'll gladly do it again when the time comes. Much as I like my sleep (especially in my recently redecorated bedroom -- pictures soon to come on the other blog), I don't mind sharing little bits of that time to snuggle with warm, cuddly bodies who immediately calm down when momma picks them up.
In the mean time, though, I'll be in bed.
1 comment:
You lucky, lucky woman you! I get the most sleep when Bubba's in bed with us, otherwise he's up every two-three hours. Yaaawn!
Post a Comment