For the second time this week actually. Halleluja! After nine and a half months we finally got a full night's rest. And it wasn't easy getting there.
Ava was actually a very good sleeper as a newborn. She only ever woke up once or twice at night to eat. She even occasionally slept through the night on her own. But then she got used to waking up to eat. And more often than not we would all fall asleep in our bed and she would get to sleep blissfully with her mommy and daddy. Amazing how much space a tiny baby can take up in a queen size bed. But I couldn't bear the thought of not feeding her (she really is small) at night if she wanted to eat.
So at her nine month checkup I asked her Dr. about it. I said that I thought she was old enough to sleep through the night, but I felt bad about not feeding this teeny, tiny baby. The Dr. agreed that she was old enough to sleep all night and said that she would probably eat more during the day if she didn't get fed during the night. And so the experiment began.
The first night she only woke up once and cried for twenty minutes before she finally fell back asleep. The second night she woke up and it was only five minutes before she was sleeping again. Awesome! Then she woke up again. And again. And cried for an hour! It was horrible. I felt like the worst possible mother. And Dan SLEPT THROUGH IT. I finally had to say "Don't you even care that your daughter has been screaming for an hour? There is no book anywhere that says to let them cry for an hour!" He convinced me to let her go a little longer and she was asleep within minutes. We had another week of sometimes waking up for a few minutes and sometimes crying for almost an hour. And now two nights of sleeping from 8:00 pm to 6:30 am! Maybe its a little early to start rejoicing, but I am just so excited. What will I do with myself now that I'm so well rested?
My cutie patootie just before bedtime
2 comments:
Aww Im happy that my little neicey finally sleeps through the night. i bet you are soo relieved to get some sleep!! well i love you! bye
Joy of joys!
Elizabeth made it through the night starting at NINE WEEKS! And we shared a room too. So I was definitely spoiled by that. Dylan took a SMIDGE longer.
He didn't sleep through the night until he was in his OWN room...around five-six months old. But he was nursing too, so...I still sometimes miss seeing him at night, having just the two of us time. But it's okay, sniffle sniffle.
Now it's flipped, Elizabeth wakes up all night long and comes and sleeps in our room and Dylan is asleep when his head hits the mattress and doesn't wake up 'til morning.
Funny.
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