Friday 14 October 2011

Sleep schedule

We have decided to try and get Noah on a sleep schedule. I know he is very young and that it may take months before he's sleeping how we'd like him to. But it's worth a try right? Come on, were first time parents here, cut us some slack.

Last night as always, Noah began to get cranky around 630pm. The plan was to let him sleep for half an hour or so and then give him a bath. We knew this would be a battle, but after the sleepless nights we'd been having we were willing to try it. Matt offered to do it which I thought was very brave of him. So I sat downstairs with my grandma while my baby screamed murder upstairs for 15 minutes. It was heartbreaking! I felt a little like I was abandoning my child, which I knew was ridicules considering Matt was right there with him. I kept telling myself over and over, "He's fine. He's safe. This isn't going to hurt him." Matt brought him back down and handed him to me and I could see the little tears on his cheeks. So sad! He began to calm down right away and stopped crying, but his little chest was still heaving and it was hard to watch. I put him on his playmat and helped him shake some of the little toys dangling in front of his face. The he smiled. All was well in the world again!

I knew he was exhausted but he managed to stay awake and happy until 930pm. Three hours later then he usually went to sleep! Matt suggested we try putting him in his bassinet awake and see if he'd go to sleep by himself. Usually we have to rock him to sleep first, but its become a bad habit that he wont go down on his own. However, he fell asleep all by himself (other then holding onto Matts finger - so cute!) He woke up for two feedings in the night, but both times went right back to sleep on his own. Guess exhaustion will do that to you!

We plan to keep up with this. Short nap if needed, followed by bath, playtime, then story time. We want him to be able to anticipate what's coming so he understands that it's time to settle down for the Night. Hopefully it becomes routine sooner then later for him.

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