Sleep is such a big deal when you have a baby… to everyone. The first thing most parents would ask in the first few months that we had Poppy was always “How is she sleeping?”. I didn’t realize how wonderful sleep was until I had a baby. I miss it. I really do. My friends who have children that are slightly older have told me to look at this Lazarus review here when I get the time, to see if specific types of CBD oils can make a difference to how much sleep I have, as it seemed to work for them. But with a baby who still depended on me throughout the night, I didn’t want to risk it, but it’s definitely something I will consider for the future. I’ve forgotten what it’s like, and want to find out again soon. Like really soon. I have never been one to sleep in really late, I rarely even sleep through the night myself. Although, it is nice when you lay down at night on a comfortable mattress from somewhere like Leesa you know that no one is going to start screaming and demanding you get up. But, that is a big part of raising a little human and since she is the sweetest little being I ever did see I really don’t mind too much going in there and cuddling her limp, squishy, warm body.
I posted a photo on Instagram yesterday saying how it was the first night that Poppy slept 8:30 to 8:30 without asking for milk, and it was glorious. I woke up so shocked and quickly peeped to make sure she was still alive. A lot of people commented asking How did I do it?! I don’t think I did. I think it just sort of happened, who knows if she will do it again either… I never get my hopes up because it makes it that much harder to pull myself out of bed at 2:00am. Last week was actually the first time Poppy started sleeping without a swaddle (*insert monkey emoji with hand over mouth*)
I have swaddled her every night since Poppy was born and if she got a hand out it always woke her up. She was almost always straight to sleep the moment I put her down and would do 2.5 hour naps 2-3 times a day, and slept till sometimes 10:00 am. So, I just figured why mess with a good thing! But I kept saying when she turns 1 we’re done with the swaddle, so last week I started with naps and it took her about an hour to fall asleep at first. She would go back and forth between chatting and screaming, then I would go in once she was really upset give her a long tight hug lay her down and she fell asleep shortly after. Each day she was falling asleep faster, and one week later it takes about 5-10 minutes. I was dreaddddinnnggg the first night time sleep without the swaddle, gearing up for a very sleepless night. So last friday I finally laid her down in her crib without the swaddle, it took her a while to fall asleep and then that night she had one of the best sleeps of her life. *Palm-to-face*. With almost every transition, I always say “Why didn’t we do this sooner?!” It’s funny how they surprise you, and with the next babe I wont be so worked up about changing things.
Since then her sleeping has been getting better and better, she went from nursing sometimes 3 times a night to once, and last night 0! 2 weeks ago I never thought she could go a night without nursing, but its funny how quickly they can change things up on you. That was something a friend who had a baby a few months before me said; that just when you think they’ve settled into a phase it all changes. Which I found super encouraging, because so many times I would feel like ‘oh no! this is how she is going to sleep forever!’ and then the next night it was completely different.
Basically a long babbling answer to your comments, is really no answer at all. BUT I really do find that really stuffing her with food in the last few hours before bed helps, whether they’re on solids or still just nursing. So, there’s something 😉
Oh one more thing… Last week I read an analogy by Dr. Ferber (thats where the word ferberizing comes from.. Who Knew?! Not me.) about why you should put babies down to sleep still awake. Which I always knew I should be doing and tried to as soon as she could keep her eyes open long enough. But I really liked his analogy about why. Here it is:
Imagine you go to sleep with your big fluffy seal pillow, and 90 minutes later you wake from your sleep cycle to find your pillow is gone. Of course, you are going to think, “Who the hell stole my pillow!” You check the floor, and your find that your husband has taken it. Back to sleep you go… 90 minutes later you wake again, to find your special pillow gone again. Of course, you can’t fall back to sleep. You need your pillow!
Now, pretend we take this fun analogy a little bit further. Lets say you fall asleep, and wake after your first sleep cycle to find that you are no longer in your bed, but in your front yard! Do you really think you are going to fall back to sleep at that point? Of course not! “Call the police, someone has kidnapped me!”
Now lets think about this in baby perspective. You rock, cuddle and shhhh your little one for 20 minutes until they fall asleep. You transfer them to them crib fast asleep. What do you think that baby is going to do when they wake up!? They are no longer being rocked in your arms, cuddled, or shushed. I can promise you, they are going to cry, A LOT! Just like you would if someone moved your ass to the front yard!
Your child wakes up a lot more than you do in the night. The scene they find when they wake up needs to be IDENTICAL to the one they saw when they fell asleep.
