Sleepness Nights...No more!

So our daughter has done something soooo wonderful, something soooo amazing. When we tell people the first things out of their mouths are: "you're so blessed" or "that is really great!".

Our daughter has learned to sleep through the night since she was about 2-3 months. My wife had to return to work 8 weeks after our daughter was born and she had that looming feeling that all mothers have: "What am I going to do?! If she doesn't sleep through the night I'm going to go to work soooooo tiiireeeddd!!!!"

Well she recieved some good advice from her sister and sister-in-law: "Start her early on a sleep routine, the earlier the better." My wife thought that was a great idea, BUT with our daughter being so young she would of course wake up in the middle of the night to eat, be changed, etc. She had a daunting feeling, but thought, ok, I'll try this out. She set a time for 7pm, this is the time we start getting her ready for bed; she gets her nightly bath, gets changed, fed and held and sometimes sung and read a story, until she falls asleep.

Now in the beginning it was easy getting her TO sleep, but KEEPING her asleep...that was another story. She would wake up every two hours for her feedings as normal. But the miraculous thing: as my wife kept up with routine our daughter got used to it. At 7pm, she would get her nightly bath, change of diaper and clothing into her night onsie, her bottle, and either held or placed on the bed on her side to fall asleep. Many times it took her a loooonnnggg while to fall asleep; sometimes 9, 10 or even 11pm, but when she did she would be out like a light!

Starting her on this routine worked out well, because when my wife finally returned to work, she didn't have the exhaustion as most mothers feel when their baby's wake up on the hour.

Although our daughter does not get up every hour she does wake up in the middle of the night, at least once during the night, to eat and be changed. But once she gets that bottle, and a diaper change, she goes right on back to bed.

We are truly blessed to have received that piece of advice from her siblings, because starting a sleep routine with her early on was AWESOME, a blessing. We still, from time to time, get sleepy during the day, because on some occassions she wakes up to eat, and be changed, and she'll stay up for a half hour or so before she goes back to sleep. My wife lays her in between us, sing her a few songs, rub her tummy until she falls asleep. Once she does, she gets placed right back into her own bed.

This may not work for every parent but it has worked for us. For some parents it may take your babies a bit more than 2-3 months to get used to a routine. We started her at one month and has not deviated from that routine since.