At 3 months, 3 weeks, and 3 days (seriously!) Oliver slept through the night! He slept eight solid hours. I however stared at the monitor all night, and mornng, in disbelief. Fail.
I have been religious about Oliver’s nighttime routine for two months now. I start every night between 7:30-8:30pm. (Since he is fed on demand his feeding schedule fluctuates a little.) I start twenty minutes before he should be due to eat with "Bath-time for Big Boys!" Next he gets lotion with a baby massage, all to the tune of mommies terribly off key lullabies and made up songs of how much I love my big baby boy. Then I nurse him, which 99% of the time ends in him passing out. I swaddle him tightly and put him in his crib. He normally stays asleep or sometimes stirs from gas, but rarely do I have to work at getting him back to sleep.
I have made the choice to put him to sleep at 8pm instead of 11 pm like three of my other girlfriends with babies the same age. This way I can still have a few hours of peace and quiet in the evening before bed. Possibly if I kept him up that late I would not have to get up at 4 am for a feeding, but rather 6 or 7. I really don’t know that for sure and I have no desire to get my baby used to staying up until 11pm, so 8 it is.
Unfortunately, my dumb ass cannot get to sleep before midnight! So I am still only getting 4 hours, if that. Yes, I can hear you saying WTF? And really I don’t know WTF! I’m working on it. I just think I enjoy the quiet time at night so much I can’t get to sleep, plus I am a night owl.
After Oliver’s 4 am feeding he falls right back to sleep and then, unfortunately, is up between 6 and 7 with a gassy ass. It never fails! Once he passes the gas he wants about an hour of playtime, before he is ready to go back to sleep for up to 3 additional hours! Why can I not just get him to skip the hour playtime and sleep through to 9am?
Anyways, MY BABY IS SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!! Yes, I am doing a little dance in my chair. I have been waiting a very long time to write this post.
One thing I know for sure after being a mom for 4 months, is that I should not get used to any of this. His sleep will change now that he’s pulling 8 hours. I hope it’s going to get closer to the 12 hours older babies sleep straight, but regardless I know my baby can sleep 8 hours now and that is HUGE!
I plan to try to sooth him back to sleep at 6 am and limit stimulation. If that doesn’t work I may just let him lay there. I really do not know. I keep reminding myself he is just shy of 4 months, so having any plans or expectations at all is foolish. For now I am just going to bask in the glory of his 8 hours of sleep, and hopefully, soon mine too!
10 comments:
Hurray Oliver! It's magical isn't it? Kiwibub started sleeping through the night 2 weeks ago - I on the other hand, have only managed to sleep through the night 3 times; apparently I'm still stuck in our old routine of getting up for a bottle while he has clearly moved on. You'll be amazed at just how good you feel after your first full nights sleep - it's like you become a whole new woman! :-D
YAY!!! So excited for you guys! And yeah, I have found, even with Kaely, that going to bed earlier works towards a better night's sleep- usually we aim for 7-7, or 8-7... either way, 8 hours is amazing! :) Go Ollie!
Hooray!!! Here's to many more nights of sleep and longer stretches.
so jealous!!
William had his worst night ever! Asleep by 8:30, up at 11:30, 2:30, 3:45, 4:55, and then refused to go back in his bed. :( But when he comes in bed with me, I can't sleep either. He can't sleep beside me, he'll kind of sleep on me while I'm lying down. If I try to nurse him lying down, he'll fall asleep, but then every 5 minutes try to reattach himself. He'll have a few sucks, and fall asleep again. lol. It's kind of funny to watch though.
The few times William has slept until 3, I totally wake up every hour, thinking 'ok, he's going to wake up any second now'.
We made the room a bit cooler last night. :( Maybe that's why he kept waking up.
Good job Oliver and congrats mommy!!! And good job on not keeping him up until 11pm - the earlier a baby sleeps, the later he wakes up! :) Doesn't quite make sense, does it? But it's true. "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby" by Marc Weissbluth.
Enjoy your sleep!!!
WHAT IS THAT?! I still cannot sleep more than 2-3 hours! I am so exhusted yet so restless once I lay down! Ugh. But, the promise of feeling like, 'a whole new woman' is around the corner I just know it!
Last night I got 7-1 then 1-6! even that was amazing! I'm excited to see what happens tonight! "How long will my baby sleep?" is my new obsession!
Cheers to that!
We went through the same,"retunr to new born days" when my brother inlaw cam in town. Oliver was up EVERY three hours for the entire 3 weeks they were here. Slowy over the last 2 weeks he has stretched out. Also, Oliver prefers to be warm to even hot when he sleeps. We kept it colder than normal when the Aussies were here and I think that is why Ollie sucked at sleeping.
And isn't that the crap of it, when the baby is finally sleeping, you still cant! So frustrating!!
Thanks Esther!
I have, and read the book! I'm a huge fan and it is totally working!
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