Sleep: The Most Precious Commodity

Last night was a major milestone for Nikolas: he slept straight through from 8:30 pm to 4:30 am. A whole 8 hours! I heard some stirring and hand sucking around 3:00, but he then went back to sleep (hooray!) for another hour before rousing to be fed.

Nights have been good since he was only about 4 weeks old. By good, I mean we got a routine down right away and he knew when it was bedtime. Sure, he’d wake up several times a night to be fed, but it was very routine: get up, eat, burp, go back to bed. When I was still breastfeeding, I’d be up for an hour for the whole process to take place. I watched alot of Sex in the City that I’d record every night, because late- late-late night tv really sucks! Now, we’re up long enough for him to suck back a bottle and I wait 10 minutes before laying him down, just in case he spits up.

Up until a few weeks ago, we really struggled with naps. Nikolas would not nap very well during the day, and for some reason, we always tried to get him to sleep downstairs where we could watch him. He sleeps great through noise, but he just would not settle enough to get a good sleep during the day. That meant by evening, we had one grumpy boy on our hands. And what was so frustrating was that we'd leave him with my mother-in-law for an afternoon, and he'd sleep the entire time!

So, I put a call out for help on Facebook to all my mommy friends, and below is a piece of advice I received:

He should be napping 2 or 3 times a day for a minimum of one hour each. Some recommended tips for napping...

1. First nap should be two hours after waking, on a full stomach. Second nap at the first sign of tiredness, which is usually within 2 - 3 hours of the first nap.

2. Try to sleep him in the same room/environment he sleeps in at night.

3. Swaddle him (if you swaddle), give him a soother (if you use them), say nighty night and leave the room. If he cries, give him a couple minutes, then go in to console. But only stay one minute. Give him his soother back, pat him or briefly pick him up, then put him back and leave the room

4. If he cries again, repeat step 3. Keep repeating.

It could go on and on for up to an hour...just be patient for the first week. It’s frustrating at first, but you have to teach him. And if it goes on for more than an hour, give up and try again at the next nap. Otherwise you will both be worn out.

So we’ve been basically doing the above for his naps during the day. As soon as we start seeing yawning, he goes up to his bassinette. Sometimes he’ll cry for a whole hour, I’ll let him cry for 5 minutes between consoling him, and twice, I’ve gone up the stairs saying to myself “okay, this is the last time. Next time, I’m picking him up”, only to have him finally quiet down after I’ve gone in and consoled him. Most of the time, I only have to go up once or twice, and sometimes not at all; it all depends on how tired he is, and how willing he is to go to sleep on his own.

All in all, the method that my friend suggested to me really has been working, and I’m not sure why it took me 12 weeks to figure out this whole nap thing! I think the biggest struggle is getting Matthew to keep consistent with this, and not cave in to the crying when he thinks I’m not looking. I’ve had to explain to him how important it is that we be in on this together, otherwise, Nikolas is going to learn that if he cries long enough, someone will pick him up and let him sleep while being held.

It’s sure nice for Nikolas to get the much needed sleep, and to get a little time to myself during the day. I don’t know if it’s related to him sleeping better during the day, or if it’s just coincidental timing, but he is now sleeping longer and longer at night. He was topping out at 5 hours at night at the most, but now we seem to have gotten over that hump, and each night seems to be getting better and better. The funny thing now, is when I get up in the middle of the night to give Nikolas his bottle, it takes me FOREVER to fall back asleep! That's a whole other problem....