On Sleep

Blurry iPhone picture of my little bear sleeping in her favorite spot - in someone's arms!

 I have always been a good sleeper - before pregnancy, I could sleep easily and for extremely long amounts of time. I slept like a teenager - most Saturday mornings you would find me in bed until noon. If someone wanted to schedule an early morning activity on the weekend, I would dread it. I loved sleep.

During pregnancy the constant need to pee, plus my aching back and legs, robbed me of good sleep. I went through bouts of insomnia that I would try to remedy with long naps after work. I knew parenthood would bring on more sleepless nights and I tried to store up as much sleep as I could (although I know it doesn't work like that).

When Brighton was born, I had been awake for almost 24 hours. I had gone to bed around 9pm, woke up at 11pm to pee, then my contractions started. I was able to get an hour nap in before I started pushing, but after she was born, I only slept a few hours here and there before we went home. I was bleary-eyed and knew that my relationship with sleep was forever changed.

The first two weeks of Brighton's life, I fed her every 2.5 hours during the day, and every 3 hours at night. I got used to waking up so often and was thankfully able to sleep when she slept during the night hours. After her 2 week checkup, we were given the ok from her pediatrician to allow her to sleep 4 hours between feedings at night (she had beefed up above and beyond her birth weight), but only as long as we fed her every 2-2.5 hours during the day.

At her one month appointment, the pediatrician said we could let her sleep as long as she wanted at night, as long as I continued to feed her every 2-2.5 hours during the day so she could get in the calories she needed. She told me to not force her into longer stretches since she was so little, and to let her lead the way. Well my daughter definitely led the way! At six weeks she was sleeping 5-6 hours a night, by 8 weeks it was 7-8 hours a night and by 10 weeks it was 8-9 hours a night.

Last night she slept 10 hours and 20 minutes. She is 11 weeks old.

I know I am lucky here. I have not done anything to push her into sleeping this much - she has done it all on her own. And my relationship with sleep is back on track - I am getting as much sleep as she is at night.

Naps are a whole other story, but since her night sleep is so good, I haven't focused on it too much. She gets in a long morning nap after she first wakes up to eat, and then takes 30-40 minute naps throughout the day, sometimes in my arms or in the Ergo, sometimes in her crib. She is waking up happy so I am not going to worry about nap times since she is still so young. Also, we rock her to sleep at every nap and for nighttime sleep, but I am slowly weaning her of that and trying to lay her down awake but tired - sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I am not comfortable with letting her fuss/cry for longer than 5 minutes since she hasn't shown any signs of being able to self-soothe yet.

Here is what I have learned so far about infant sleep:

Eating Matters - What I have noticed through tracking her sleeping and eating through the Baby Connect app is that she nurses around 1 hour and 45 minutes total daily (or 7 times). If I don't get in that much nursing for the day by around 10pm she will not fall asleep until she gets that last feeding in - which puts her to bed around midnight. Knowing this has made me pretty diligent about feeding her every 2-2.5 hours during the day; thankfully she is ready to eat every 2-2.5 hours!

Bedtime Routines Work - We started a consistent bedtime routine to help her understand when it's time to sleep - change her diaper, a little infant massage, pajamas, read a few books, turn on the sound machine, nurse, rock her to sleep, lay her down and turn off the light. My bible of sleep - Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child - recommends you start a routine as soon as possible and so far it's worked well.

Sleep Begats Sleep - If Brighton misses a nap, even a 30 minute one, it throws her off. Becoming overtired actually keeps babies awake. If she sleeps more during the day, she sleeps more at night. It's not logical, but it's biological!

Thankfully my daughter is a good sleeper, just like her mama. But I know I have a lot more to learn!

Any recommendations/tips that have worked for you? Please share in the comments section!