Sleep Progress

That's how many hours he slept last night(1/17/13.) Straight. 8 hours straight. EIGHT HOURS STRAIGHT! This is a big deal. He is sick with a chest cold (horrible cough) so maybe that's why he slept for so long. When he woke up I changed his diaper, fed him and he slept 5 more hours (with a couple of wake ups in there.) He slept forever. I could have stayed up to watch Downton Abbey but I went to bed super early thinking he'd be up in 3 hours. I hope he is feeling better today. (He's got Daddy Day Care.) I'm looking forward to seeing what tonight's sleep will bring.

The latest on his sleeping is that I've stopped doing the "No Cry Sleep Solution"...I probably haven't done that for several months now. It was too involved and tiring. After trying that for several months I wasn't seeing enough progress. The one good thing that came from that though is that I broke the habit of nursing him and falling asleep while doing so. I made sure that as soon as he slowed down I would pull him off. Another key change is that I am no longer swaddling him at night or during the day for naps. (K doesn't swaddle him for naps, Mike does - so we'll just need to help Mike transition - I'm not sure he's ready yet though (Mike, not Stanley...hahha!)) Because he isn't in a swaddle and he is now able to roll over he usually sleeps on his tummy or side. I will plop him in his crib and he automatically rolls over. He might fuss for a little bit, so I'll sing to him and rub his back and he eventually will settle down. I leave the door open and I go on about my business. If I hear him cry I will go to him and pat his back, say "night night" and/or put his pacifier in if he wants it (sometimes he doesn't want it; he's good at showing me with his mouth if he wants it or not.) It's usually only one time that I'll go back to comfort him. It's such a huge difference from all of the rocking and bouncing and white noise machines and singing I had to do to get him to sleep before. Another change I have recently made is not writing down every time he wakes, eats and falls asleep. I think that was helpful to a point but I also think it held me back from really just paying attention to his signs of being sleepy or hungry. It's nice to look to him rather than look to the clock. He is constantly changing where the clock is the same from minute to minute, second to second. I think it has put me more in tune with him, which is nice.

P.S. He slept 4 hours the next night and then 5 hours the following night. 4 is sort of average and 5 is above average so hopefully we'll see a lengthening trend.