Well kids...It finally happened.
My baby slept through the night.
Don't get too excited...sadly I'm talking the "technical" sleeping through the night, not what most of us consider through the night.
That's right folks...he slept for 5 WHOLE HOURS...in a row.
I woke up at 2am and thought my boob was going to explode.
It was amazing.
I lay there torn between desperately wanting some relief for my boob and wanting to wait and see how long the kid would sleep if I left him alone.
Luckily it was obviously my mommy radar that woke me up because about 2 minutes after I awoke the kid started squirming for some food!
As exciting as this all is, it's unfortunate that I did not get the same 5 hours of sleep as he went to bed at 9pm and I went to bed at 10pm, but I'll take the 4 hours!
Can you believe I haven't slept longer than 4 hours in a row in the 4.5 months that Baby Jett has been alive?
And can you believe that was the first time that my boobs have EVER gone 5 hours without feeding the baby?
This 5 hours thing was awesome for more than the fact that it's a milestone of "sleeping through the night", I also seem to have unlocked some baby sleep secrets that actually worked!
I've discussed Baby Jett's odd half hour napping and how he takes like 7 million naps a day because he only naps for a half hour and he wants to nap an hour and a half after he awoke from his last half hour nap. I've also discussed my frustration with trying to get him down for the night, in that he seems to think 7:30 is just time for another nap and he won't REALLY go down for the night until 9-10pm.
Well, yesterday I did a little experiment.
I kept him up after he woke up for the day for a full hour and a half, whereas usually he's down an hour after he gets up. Then I kept him up for 1 hour and 45 minutes to 2 hours between each nap, which drastically reduced our naps from 6 down to only 4. And finally I didn't put him down for bed until 9:00 which was 2 hours after his last nap ended at 7:00pm.
AND IT WORKED.
Not only did he take an hour and a half nap for his first nap of the day (followed by some 30-40 minutes naps) but he also SLEPT FOR 5 HOURS immediately after I put him down for the night. Had it not been so cold I COULD HAVE PUT HIM TO SLEEP IN HIS CRIB and he would have slept for the 5 hours...I know this because my husband is gone and there's lots of room in the bed and I wasn't touching the baby for that 5 hours!!!
Please...everyone hold the applause for Jesica finally getting her baby to sleep without snuggling into her boob...I know the rest of you figured this out when your babies were like 6 weeks old and I feel like I'm late to the baby sleeping party but I have to repeat it again tonight before it's real!
People really get their babies to sleep through the night at six weeks? The longest Hazel has gone without a feeding is four hours. It's just how it is. I don't mind.
ReplyDeleteIf you end up with a kid like mine, one of these days you will stop caring about sleep entirely and you will actually lose track of how many hours in a row you have gotten because otherwise, you would go insane. While I am not sure because I quit paying attention, I believe I have not slept more than 5 hours in the 15 months Barrett has been here. He doesn't sleep through the night and sometimes he wakes 2x and sometimes it is 5 or more. He goes to bed in his crib but eventually ends up in bed with us. I had to stop worrying about it because counting was driving me crazy, hearing people talk about their perfect sleepers pissed me off and lets be honest, I was absolutely NOT going to do cry it out because it didn't jive with me and Barrett has a very sweet, cuddly, close, quiet demeanor and I don't think it would be good for him and the way he is...so I had to give up and just let what happened happen and realize that every baby has their thing.
ReplyDeleteI am sure you are fully aware but remember, going longer stretches without nursing (like 5 hours) will bring back your fertility and you could end up with another baby sooner than later -
Hope you are enjoying being home and I can't wait to see you when I come down!!
Huzzah!!! Go baby Jett - let mummy have some sleep :)
ReplyDeleteWhohoO!!! 4-5 hours is GREAT. Stella finally did that...hell, I don't know when...but then started sleeping 9-1 and 1-5 and 5-7...(so wakeups at 1 and 5 for a long time - which was TOTALLY doable)...then from 8-1 and 1-7 (which was AMAZEBALLS), and now I'm incredibly spoiled with 8-7 and I don't know how to function on the odd 5:45am wakeup. It's amazing how we function on 2-3hr sleep bursts for so many months...and then our bodies totally forget once they get that sleep. At any rate, way to go baby Jett!!
ReplyDeleteWoohoo! Great news! I bet you're feeling good today. We've got the day time part down, but not the 5 hours at night. I think I've once gotten 5 hours, but I might have counted wrong...
ReplyDeleteMay sleep continue to go well these following nights!
Congrats in a good stretch! I'm following along closely because although L naps, he never does it flat, only in the car seat, swing or in us. We are starting to practice getting him to nap in the cosleeper, preheated with a heating pad, during the day, so then we can put it in the crib and start to transition him there. Though, I fully expect our holiday travel to interrupt all progress!
ReplyDeleteYay!!! It doesn't matter when you figure it out....just that you do and it is working for you. This age was the magic sleep age for my babies too. My first one slept thru the night at 9 weeks (a true 8 hours)...but he still had the super crappy nap schedule until right around 4-5 months....then it all just changed. 2nd baby started sleeping longer stretches around 3-4 months at night (only 4-5 hours) and had the crappy nap schedule until about 5 months. Her nap schedule improved...but her night time sleeping never really went past that 4-5 hour mark until she was almost 2!!!!!! So you just never know. Just keep trying things and rejoice in your longest sleep stretch in 5 months!!!
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I want you to know, I think of you EVERY.SINGLE.TIME the boys sleep more than an hour! I'm glad to hear you may have figured out somethings, hopefully they will continue to work!
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