Sleeping Boy

At almost four months old, Theo takes several naps a day still, usually about 45 minutes for each nap.  This is pretty much the same as how the other kids slept, so it's what I'm used to!  While his naps aren't long, he usually wakes up pretty happy so I can't complain. Usually I swaddle him tightly, give him his Nuk, and walk him around my room for a few minutes.  He passes out relatively quickly and I lay him in the same little rocker that Caeli had.  Sometimes I'll lay him down in our bed, depending on the time of day.  Theo may sleep a little longer in the afternoons, especially if I go lay down and join him for a nap!  Most days this doesn't happen but I try to make it happen if he hasn't had enough cuddle time with me or I feel like we both need to rest and reconnect.  Napping next to this sweet little boy is just one of the most pleasurable things I've ever had the privileget of doing!

For my records, we weighed him a couple of weeks ago and he was 13 lbs 13 oz.  He's outgrowing his size 6-month clothing (that I just bought for him a few weeks ago!).  I tried cloth diapers for a few days but realized I'm not up to it right now!  Maybe we will try again when he is a bit older.  He is starting to like his pacifier more but prefers to stick all of his fingers in his mouth instead!  He's so very slobbery right now, but just has the best gummy grin! 

Ahh...

The silence of nap time. I love nap time around our house- from 1 pm to 2 pm, the house is mine. It's true that I usually hop in bed too, but on rare occasions I find myself awake after a perfect 40-minute nap and the kids continue to sleep on. Before I fall asleep, I try to remember to ask God to give me the sleep I need- no more and no less. There were days (and I'm sure there will be quite a few in the future) where I begged for sleep to come over my kids, but I'm grateful at the moment to have a few moments to myself, whether or not Beth is actually asleep. Some days I'm sure she just plays in her room, but you know what? It's quiet in my house. And that's what I need, so it's what God gives me when I remember to ask!

Luke's sleep

Luke's been sleeping pretty well for about a month now, so I feel like I won't jinx myself it I blog about it!

Probably a month to 6 weeks ago, we were kind of fed up with the sleep situation around here. We decided to do a combination of No Cry Sleep Solution and The Sleep Lady, mixed in with a little bit of my knowledge of how Luke works. We've been very consistent about his bedtime routine for several months now, so preparing him for sleep hasn't been the issue. But helping him fall asleep without pacing around the room for 30 minutes- that was the challenge.

We started with a bedtime routine, shorter than Beth's because by the end of the night Luke's usually worn out so he doesn't have the patience for me to read him a book or two. When I go to sit down and read/rock, he immediately wants to nurse. He'll let Ryan read to him for awhile, but then calls me in to be the "closer!" I nursed him till he popped off (he won't fall asleep while nursing- not his thing) and then I rocked him for another minute, paced him for a few minutes, then laid him down while he was VERY drowsy. I mean, nearly asleep. Then I left. He woke up and started fussing, so I set my timer for two minutes. When it dinged, I went in, laid him back down and patted his back, shushing him, and stayed with him till he was calm. Then I left again, and set the timer for 4 minutes. Went back in, same thing, then left. I planned on doing 6 minutes, but by a few seconds after I left, all was silent! Same thing the next night, and the night after, and I think by the fourth night I could lay him down drowsy and leave, and not hear another peep from him.

I don't remember how or when he started sleeping longer stretches. For awhile, he'd wake up at 11 pm and we'd let him fuss for two minutes, then four minutes, etc. I don't think we even made it to four minutes though, I think he was out after one time of going in and quieting him down. When he'd wake up at 2 or 3 am, I'd nurse him then put him back down, and always went down easy after that. Then he'd wake up for the morning around 6. Ugh that's hard!

After some time, he's sleeping longer stretches. We put him down around 7:15 and usually don't hear a peep until around 3-5 am. I go to him, nurse him, and put him back in bed and he's down again till about 6:30-6:45. That's about what's happening now.

Now, for nap time, I still haven't figured that one out. A few weeks ago, for about a week, he voluntarily was sleeping longer stretches and he was so happy that week! It was amazing! But, I can't make him sleep during the day, you know? Right now he naps from about 9-10 am, then 12:30-1:30, and sometimes from 3:30-4:15. When he was happiest, he napped from 9-11 then again from 1-3. I didn't know what to do with myself, Beth and I got a lot done around the house that week!

I love our bedtime routine for our kids. Getting our kids to sleep has never been an issue since we've been so rigid about the routines. Ryan and I have it easy, I know it! It's a blessing most of the time, but a curse some of the time. We have them so "trained" that neither of them will really nap under any other circumstance. On those rough days, don't you know I'd love to pile them all in my bed and nap together! But, Beth won't sleep anywhere else in our house other than her bed, and Luke won't sleep next to me anymore. It's sort of sad, because I know those are some tender moments I am missing out on! But, I tell myself, at least I have the chance to get some sleep at night, sleep that I desperately need. Now I just need to make myself go to bed earlier than midnight, then I might actually catch up on some sleep from those incredibly rough early days!

Sleep update

As you may or may not know, Luke isn't the best sleeper in the world. I laugh when I read stuff in parenting magazine like, "Most babies should be sleeping through the night by 6 months old." The past few months have been a struggle, and a couple of weeks ago I was at a breaking point. I got my hands on a few books (mostly no-cry, minimal cry philosophy-type books) and devoured them (again). We really made an effort to be home and starting Luke's routine by 6:30 pm every night, following his cues. On a side note, it's really hard as a parent of two children to be really consistent about routines for the younger child. Beth stays up till 8 these days (sometimes later, if we're out) and Ryan and I like to do stuff in the evening with her now that she's older. But...Luke needs to go to sleep by 7:00 pm, his cues are obvious and if we keep him up later then the whole night is ruined. Ryan and I are big time believers in routine and consistency, and we believe Beth has really thrived because of that, so we want to follow Luke's cues and get him to bed when he's ready. So we've been doing his routine and I firmly believe it's helped him fall asleep faster. The big issue has been getting him to stay asleep.

One night I let him cry for a little bit, I told myself I'd give him 10 minutes then go to him. By minute 5 or 6, he made hardly any whimpering noises, and the last noise I heard from him was around minute 9. He slept solidly until 3:15! Usually I'd bring him to bed with us, but I went to his room, nursed him and put him back in bed and he feel back asleep with no problem. He woke up at 6:00! I thought we were onto something, so we've been doing it that way since then. This means I'm up for about 15 minutes a night, in his room, but it also means he's not in my bed screaming and kicking me. It had gotten to the point where he just wouldn't go back to sleep easily when he was in our bed, so as much as I love cuddling with sweet babies, I've realized Luke sleeps better in his own bed. Plus he wasn't being too sweet- seriously, he's a kicker. Ryan and I are sleeping a little better, and not all nights go as smoothly as that first night, but I feel like overall it's an improvement.

Before Beth was born, I told myself I'd never let my kids "cry it out" in their beds. I didn't know what it was like to be so sleep deprived that you literally fell asleep within seconds of rocking a baby for naptime. I don't consider 10 minutes of crying to be too rough, only because I know that he will calm down now. Beth used to escalate if I let her cry in her crib, but Luke seems to be the opposite now. I'm happy that we seem to have found something that works for now, even though I'm still not sleeping through the night and even though I realize we'll probably have to change something else before he finally sleeps through the night. But I don't want to be ashamed either- I know there are groups of people who think any amount of crying is child abuse, and other groups who would plop their babies in bed and not open the door again till 7 am. I'd like to think I'm not on either end of that spectrum, but instead found something that works right now for us.