Good Night, Sleep Tight

We were so thrilled when Ian started sleeping through the night at eight weeks on his own. We really didn't feel like we had done anything special to make that wonderful 12 hours of sleep happen, so we were excited that he got the hang of it so quickly. We had been forewarned about sleep patterns changing around four months and were not altogether too surprised when he started waking up in the middle of the night again at four months (to the day!).

What we didn't expect was how hard it would be to get him to sleep through the night again. Most of the books said that sleep training could begin at four months and suggested that if you follow their methods, baby would indeed sleep through the night. Ha! Ian apparently didn't read the same books Mommy and Daddy were reading. (We did love those books for other reasons - like how Baby Whisperer explained different baby personalities or the basic eat, play, sleep concept suggested in Baby Wise.)

We read a number of different books, but it wasn't until Ian was nine months old (and NOT sleeping through the night) that we came across Marc Weissbluth's book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. I was extremely impressed by the amount of sleep study research this pediatrician had done and how accurately it depicted Ian's sleep schedules. This was the first book that I had read that even suggested a baby might wake up to nurse twice in the middle of the night until he was nine months old. Dr. Weissbluth even gave approximate times that those babies tended to wake up. Lo and behold, Ian really was on a schedule! I just didn't know it. That book has been really helpful for us...I wish we had read it before he was born and been able to follow it as his sleep schedules changed according to his age. I also liked the recommendations in this book for sleep training - they matched Ian's personality better than some other methods we had encountered.

All that to say our little boy is finally starting to sleep through the night on his own again! In the last week, he has slept through the night (roughly 7:30-8pm until 5:30 or 6am) about four times. It's very exciting (except having to pump since he isn't nursing in the middle of the night...boo to that). We wish we had a video monitor because I am sure we would capture some adorable scenes from inside the crib. In the meantime, we have found Ian in some pretty cute poses when we have gone in to check on him.

He always starts laying down on his back with his head at the end with the large puppy and his covers on. This was one of the positions I found him in a couple of weeks ago. He had turned to snuggle with his puppy and had one foot up on the headboard bumper (click to make picture larger if you like).

Ian absolutely loves to sleep with his head up against something. That's the main reason we haven't taken his bumper off yet. He likes to snuggle with it. Again, he started in the standard sleeping position and turned this way.

Not that unusual until you notice his blankets. He started out with the car blanket and then the green blanket directly on top of that. Somehow, he managed to move out from underneath the car blanket, but keep the top green blanket on him the right way. How he did that still has us puzzled!

This one has to be one of my favorites. I went to check on him last night at about 2:30am (he slept til 6 - yay!) and found him with his head pressed in the corner of the crib cuddling his bumper. He didn't make a peep all night, so we don't know if he moved over in his sleep (he had nursed himself to sleep last night) or if he woke up and moved over.

Here's another angle...for some reason, I find this absolutely adorable! I used to sleep with my face smushed up in the mesh of the playpen as a baby, so Ian must get it from me.

Sleep tight, little angel! Like Daddy's lullaby for you says - may all your dreams be sweet!