Getting baby to sleep
There’s a reason there’s a book called “Go the F**k to Sleep” (average 4.5 stars too!). If you need a mini stress-relief break, you can listen to Samuel L Jackson read it on YouTube.
For all of Evelyn‘s daytime energy, she was great when it came to sleeping at night (past the initial newborn phase that is). She had the classic eye-rub tell. Whenever she rubbed her eyes, we’d know, time for bed! By 6 months she was up only once a night. I found the above book funny, but I didn’t quite get it.
Then came Lily.
We would wait for the “eye-rub tell”….and wait and wait and wait and wait….Eventually she would get fussy and we’d think OK, finally time for sleep?! Except getting her to sleep took FOREVER and then she would sleep poorly and would wake up crying 30 minutes later. That was just naps, for nighttime she seemed to have a self-declared bedtime of around 11pm-12am and not a minute sooner. Unhappy parents, unhappy baby, unhappy house….oh now I get that book.
We made a lot of excuses…maybe it’s because we’re trying to transition to crib….maybe we need to play THIS EXACT YouTube lullaby….maybe she’s teething….increasing milk supply….too hot….too cold….swaddled arms down….swaddled arms out….her crib is facing the north wall, mars is 38degrees right of the moon, and there are only 3 crickets chirping outside her window tonight….
and finally, Maybe she just doesn’t need that much sleep??
At 6 months I came across this great article “Are You Keeping Baby Awake Too Long?” The gist of the article? YES all babies ARE different, BUT…ALL babies NEED sleep. I wish I had found this article from day one and will definitely be including it in every future baby shower gift. If you can relate to everything above then it is well worth your time to read the full article.
The author, Alexis Dubief, make’s two main points:
- TIMING of which you put your child down to sleep. She has a great chart to help you figure this out for ages 0-12months and covers all your short nap vs long nap questions.
- The “Witching Hour(s)”-The totally normal phase/exception to the chart that babies go through, where are are awake/fussy for an extended duration in the late evening hours. Bingo-Lily’s was from about 9pm-12am.
Did it work for us? YES. No matter how happy and awake Lily seemed, we followed Alexis’ chart and would put her to bed about 3 hours after she had last woken up. Bam! like magic she would fall asleep. Happier parents, happier baby, happier house…still hilarious book though.
Now, is she only up once a night? Hell no. Try like 2-5times…I’m not willing to embrace CIO yet, so we’re still working on that one….maybe it’s because she’s teething…crawling…daylight savings…need more crickets??
Need a good baby monitor for when they do sleep? Thankfully something I don’t have to over research because it was already done! Love the thoroughness and information in Review.com’s “The Best Baby Monitor”
