Sleeping Through the Night

I know everyone does this differently, but I was writing to a friend today and got thinking about this subject. There are so many books you can read out there, but for me, so much info got overwhelming to my tired brain. I thought I'd put out there what worked for us. If it works for you, great! If not, no problem.

There are two rules I have followed that worked well. I liked boiling down all the info to two rules.

1. Eat-Play-Sleep: I am so glad we started this early! When Alexis was about a month old, I started getting her into this cycle. This helps an infant to learn to sleep without feeding before sleeping (like I mentioned, this may not work in the beginning). Now, Alexis has fallen right into this pattern. For some reason, this pattern has been shown to help babies to learn to sleep better and longer at night.

2. Don't smile in the middle of the night! Don't let baby think the middle of the night feeding or diaper change is fun. If you do, the middle of the night stuff holds on for a long while. (By the way, for the middle of the night, you of course feed them and put them back to sleep).

As Alexis has grown, I've finally gotten her onto a nap pattern. Here are my nap rules.

1. Two Hour Rule: Most babies, though not all, from 3-6 months, need a nap every two hours. So, if she wakes at 7:00, put her down for a nap at 9:00. Make sure she naps at least 45 minutes (and not more than two hours), thus don't take her out of the crib until that time (you can go in and comfort her in the crib if she is crying, but don't take her out!). If she wakes at 10:00, her next nap would be at 12:00.

2. Establish a nap routine. This can be reading the same book or singing the same song, etc. I go into her nursery, dim the lights, sing the same song and put her in her sleep sack.

3. Put her in the crib when she's drowsy. Great rule I've learned! The last memory should be the crib. I rock Alexis, but not all the way to sleep. Then I lay her down in the crib. She does well this way.

Just an encouragement that once you establish a pattern, it's okay to be flexible. Sometimes I just want to hold Alexis in my arms to sleep. That works okay, because she goes right back into the pattern.

Of course, things will change. Alexis is now dropping her evening nap as she is getting closer to six months. I'm sure I'll learn more about sleep and naps as things change. One thing with a baby, you'll never get bored because you have to keep changing!

Comment if you want to let us know what has worked for you!