When I was pregnant (and even before) I was constantly fretting about the lack of sleep you hear about with new babies. I asked everyone I knew with kids “when did they start sleeping thru the night?” And “how long are they sleeping now?” I felt the strong urge to prepare myself for no sleep.
Luckily, pregnancy was actually the best preparation for this. People always joke when they say that’s why you have to pee so much at night, to “prepare” you for the baby, and I actually think that might be true. In my eighth month of pregnancy I was literally waking up 6-8 times a night to pee. True story. So I remember in the first few weeks with baby T actually thinking I was getting MORE sleep. It’s all part of God’s design I think. Which is also why he made these babies so dang cute: you can’t get mad at them, even when they wake you up at 2am…and 2:30…and 3….
I just wanted to give the curious mothers to be out there a little taste of what my nights with baby T are like. I’m breaking down a “rough night” I call them, verses a “good night”.
A rough night with 4month old baby T:
8:30 start bedtime routine (jammies, nurse, etc.)
9pm put T in his bassinet beside our bed
10pm T wakes up gasy, I attempt to soothe for about half hour, finally put him back down. I get back in bed, settle down, and eventually fall asleep for a bit.
1:30am T starts to stir, I wake up
1:40 T still stirring, kicking, I get up and nurse him, burp
2:10 put him back in bed
2:30 Baby T stirs more, take him out, burp again, put him in bed with me
Sometime before 3 I maybe fall asleep for a bit
3:40 T stirs again, I try to soothe him without getting up but he starts fussing. Sit up and nurse. Realize he’s wet. Get up. Change diaper. Work on getting some farts out. Come back to bed, nurse again.
4:20 We both lay back down in our bed and try to sleep
4:30 Honey B’s alarms start to go off (which always wakes me up)
5:15 Honey B wakes up, get dressed, uses bathroom (I’m still awake from 3:40)
5:30 I finally fall asleep
7:00 Baby T wakes up, wide eyed and smiley. 🙂
Here’s a glimpse of a good night with little man:
8:30 start bedtime routine
9 put Baby T to bed
3:00 am Baby T wakes, nurses, falls right back to sleep
6:30 Baby T awake and smiley, bring him into bed with me, nurse, snuggle stay in bed as long as he’ll tolerate it, then get up and start our day.
Our nights vary, and sleeping is a continuous process of trial and error. Some days I wake up feeling refreshed and ready to start the day, some days I wake up and instantly start trying to calculate how long it might be until nap time. I’m a firm beliver in “do what you gotta do” and “do what works for YOU.”
Good luck mamas. I hope you sleep well tonight!
o'fiddlesticks 