Oh nap time, glorious nap time. I LOVE nap time, it's the few hours during the day I can get a lot of things done, this post is a perfect example of one. Don't get me wrong, Little Sunshine supervises and "assists" when I cook and clean, but doing business over the phone is difficult when you have a giggling baby in the background.
A new born will sleep for about 15-16 hours and over time slowly decreases over time. I personally noticed a significant change at around six months, which is about 12-15 hours a day. Most babies stay on the lower end. But man oh man, that transition to fewer naps, the longest week or so of my life as a mommy so far! Then there is the issue of trying to get them to sleep through the night.
Little Sunshine just turned 6 months old and she is still not sleeping through the night. For a few months we have tried the "no cry sleep solution" by Pantley and we were doing alright even though Wonderful Hubby wasn't a fan; but then teething and the holidays hit. I couldn't even get her to sleep on her own without waking her up during her naps and she would wake every two hours! My days were long and boy was I exhausted. After a week or so, I had a close break down, but fortunately Wonderful Hubby swooped in.
I had to take a step back and realize that this was not working for me. It was not working for us as parents. It was most certainly not working for Little Sunshine. I am pretty sure the No Cry Sleep Solution worked for others and I am sad it doesn't work for us now, so I had to push aside my pride and try something new. I personally thought that the cry it out method was never for me, I couldn't put my finger on it. Maybe it was a combination of things, but I just needed to get over it.
So Hubby and I talked over it together and we came up with a plan that worked for us. I was not fully comfortably with the full on Ferber Method (better known as crying it out) and I knew "No Cry" wasn't working. So we came up with parts of each that we liked and put together a plan that we were comfortable with. We are not fully there but there has been a MASS improvement since we started our personal plan and we are not even a full week in. Little Sunshine falls asleep on her own if she starts to wake on her own and she is going longer stretches at night.
So for all those sleepily trying to find the end in sight of naps and sleeping through the night the first thing you need to do is have a talk with your partner and see what you two are comfortable with. No matter who is or isn't getting up in the middle of the night, if you both are not on the same page, I swear the baby will know and plan your demise. Then even though it might be hard, stick with it. I promise you there is a light at the end of the tunnel and it does get easier. Even though you are all super moms and dads in your own way, even Superman needed a little help and wasn't always easy for him.
No comments:
Post a Comment