May 2009: 5 months old
And another reason why I love this age so much...
It has been a LONG time since I have had 6 or more consecutive hours of sleep. I had more rest while I was pregnant, but I was ALWAYS sooo tired and was up and down all night and all day because I was either sick or I had a baby pressing on my bladder. Then my bouncing baby girl entered the world. My previous reason for feeling sleep deprived and tired had vanished and been replaced with a whole new set of reasons for the bags and dark circles under my eyes. Miss Bailey has a hard time staying awake while nursing so she wakes up every 2-3 hours to eat, but not this month! She sleeps through the night now about 50% of the time and I feel like a whole new Mommy! It is amazing what a little sleep can do for a person! Her afternoon naps have pretty much turned from plural to singular, but I don't mind if it means I get a full night of sleep. At the end of last month I started her on a bedtime routine and I think that helped the change in her sleep patterns. The nights that she seems to have trouble sleeping seem to be the nights John is closing, too bad he doesn't work a set schedule!
Our bed time routine:
First I turn on a space heater in her bedroom and set her lotion in front of it so both the bedroom and the lotion will be nice and warm for a cold, wet, naked baby
Then I give her a bath which is her FAVORITE part of the day
She spends lot of time splashing and catching ducks as I wash her with yummy lavender scented baby wash to help her sleep better, which works out well because it's one of my favorite scents
About this time John comes home from work and rescues her out of the tub (unless of course he's closing then I would be doing all of the night ritual)
She is always delighted to see him so he gives her her warm lotion baby massage
and puts her feety pj's on her (she has started a new thing when she get excited she pants like a puppy LOL... that's the face she makes, so cute!)
and then it's story time, we trade off with this one, but some times she is too tired & hungry by this point for a story so we skip it and I wrap up the evening by swaddling her and nursing her to sleep
May 24, 2009 at 7:18 AM
I have heard from everyone that once the routine starts the sleeping through the night starts!!
Good job and I am so happy you are able to sleep now!!