I love sleep

Before I had Jack, I used to think I was going to have all this free time to get a bunch of stuff done on my maternity leave like finally crack down on that yard work or edit that book I wrote two years ago and still need to finish. I thought I would just take all of that nap time and clean the house spotless.

Ha.

hahahaha.

Seriously. I just have to laugh at myself because as any parent probably knows, that is not how life with a newborn goes. Well, I definitely overestimated the whole sleep thing anyway because as I have mentioned, Jack is not a napper. Not a very good one anyway. I've been working with him on it though. I've tried to get him to take at least one nap a day every day this week and so far have been more successful with that. He'll usually take a two to three-hour nap around 10 a.m. and then another hour or so in the evening. The best trick I have learned about getting him to take a nap is to turn on the dryer and put him in his car seat (bouncer works too) and to set it on the dryer. It was pretty much insta-nap. It doesn't last long, like maybe an hour or so, but sometimes I'm lucky and can get him to fall back to sleep in his rock n play.

(ignore the fact that it isn't actually St. Patty's anymore. His onesie finally fit him! lol) My baby boy asleep in his carseat on the dryer. He loved it!

I've also been successful in getting him to fall asleep for a time in his swing (if he is super tired he will) and I've been trying side-by-side nursing in the evenings on my bed. This helps him stay asleep longer when he falls asleep nursing, which he often does in the evening. 

On the bright side of the no-napping situation, Jack is sleeping well through the night. I'll usually have him to sleep by 9 and he sleeps until about 5:30. Then he wakes up to feed and then will go back to sleep for another two hours usually. He often wakes up just in time for Daniel to go to work. So much for all that sleeping in I was going to get to do.... LOL. I thought I would be more nighttime sleep deprived. Anyway, I also hear that babies can change and often do change their sleep habits frequently during the first year so I am not expecting my good fortunate of awesome nights to last (although I really hope they do!)

Speaking of sleep, I read this hilarious article the other day. I really haven't given much thought to trying to set up a sleep schedule yet just because things have been going so well without it, but I do think it is so funny and interesting that there are so many differing opinions and advice out there about infant sleep. I really think it should just be up to the parent to decide what works best for their family and their baby. For us, we have a typical nighttime routine of diaper change, turn on the white noise melody app, one last nursing session (or two) and rocking to sleep in the glider. Then I put him in his rock n play and we are good to go for the next seven hours or so. 

I may change my mind about the schedule thing once I return to work or if his own schedule changes, but for now this seems to work well for us. 

Any tips or tricks any of you had for your little ones to help them sleep/nap? Feel free to leave a comment!

xoxo, 

Sam