Sleep, Are You There?

Hello friends! You may have noticed I've been a little absent these days.  You have this face to blame:

You see, friends, this baby DOES NOT SLEEP.  She just doesn't. I was one of those moms who were like, "oh, a six month old, yea they sleep, no problem."  I was wrong. Very wrong.  I jinxed myself when she was a newborn.  She would constantly sleep. I had to actually wake up her for feedings, she slept so much.  I thought we had it made.  But then, around three months, she just stopped sleeping, and I became a crazy person, desperate for sleep, bags under the eyes, hair never brushed, caffeine inhaling mother.

In an attempt to break her terrible habit of waking up every two hours, I asked some mom friends what to do.  This is my second baby, so I thought I knew what to do, after all, I've done this before.  My son slept from seven weeks on.  It was amazing.  This girl though is very different.  She's just too excited.  Here are some things I tried over the past two weeks and guess what...THEY WORKED!

 

1. White noise or music: My children are like me, they need some sort of noise to sleep. Sounds backwards but it works.  I sleep with a fan, my son does too.  Ada here enjoys the calm sounds of beach waves and/or some music to get her to sleep.  Her favorite song, for some reason is this.

2. Put them down while they are awake: this is something that took some time to work but now is great.  If I put her in bed while she's sleeping, she can't figure out how to get herself to sleep.  Putting her down almost asleep, awake, but not crying, works 90% of the time. 

3. Establish a routine: my son was not a routine based kid, and still isn't at age four.  Ada, however, is very routine. Each day, I am working on making her a schedule that looks something like this:

8:45-wake up

9:00-eat/play time

11:30-nap

2:00-wake up, eat, play

4:00-nap

5:00-wake up, eat, play

7:00-eat, bath, pjs

7:45-8:15-play time

8:30-eat, rock, snuggle, bed

Since I started doing a schedule like this, she has been waking up once instead of every two hours.  It's been glorious. 

Naps have been better too.  She used to only nap for spurts of 20-45 minutes, and now I can usually get two hours out of her, twice a day.  It is not an exact schedule, but an outline.  Take some time in the beginning to help her out getting used to it by being home for nap time and trying to keep it as routine as you can.  The more you stay on schedule, the more it will help them to do the same.

As I said before, this whole schedule thing is new to me.  I am fortunate to be a SAHM, so I can make her schedule around us, but if your baby is at daycare, try and get them on your schedule, or adjust your days home to what they are used to when they are there. 

This has made for a happier mom, but more importantly, a happier baby!