Sleeping Beauty

I have a sleeper on my hands.  It's such a blessing!  I have been asked SO many times by other moms, or new moms how we conquered the sleep issue with Kenwood.  I just recently have been communicating back and forth with a friend of mine who has a little guy that is having some sleeping issues and it brought a lot of things up that I always took for granted or didn't realize I was doing. So, I thought I'd write a blog about how I think we got such a great sleeper.

Worn out at the zoo this summer, sound asleep in his stroller:

I am a HUGE advocate for On becoming Babywise...some reviews don't like it, but as far as I know, everyone who has used it, recommends it-including myself.  As a new mother a year ago, I had so many questions and so much stress on what to do right, when he should eat, what to expect, how long he should be awake, how could we both get some SLEEP!  It was such a relief to have the book as a guide to remind me each week--and later monthly, what to expect and how to handle it.  Now, I didn't follow as strictly as the book sometimes suggests--but I definitely followed the basic principles that were laid out.

Kenwood's schedule was a consistent sleep-eat-waketime since he was about a week old, we never let him eat before bed (except for the late night feedings--I have to admit at about 10mos he got a bottle in bed...BAD mommy) so after a few weeks of consistent routine, he had learned that when he was tired it was time to sleep rather than time to eat.  One of major misunderstandings is to feed your baby before bedtime, but at the age they are the only thing they learn is the association with eating and sleeping.  So, when baby wakes up at 3:00am screaming they expect milk before they can go back to sleep...while if a babywise baby wakes at 3:00am, they will likely not cry (unless they need something) and put themselves back to sleep because they know HOW.

Once the sleeping routine was down pat, Kenwood was napping routinely and sleeping through the night at 9 weeks....if we ever had hiccups, I looked at the book.  Guess what?  Most babies have these same sleep challenges at about the same point in their lives--so the book addresses what the cause MAY be. Growth spurts, not long enough waketime, time to change from 3hour feedings to 4hours, switch from 3 to 2 naps, etc.

Another thing we did was put Kenwood in his crib for all sleeping at 2weeks.  After a year of sleeping in his crib, he DIVES for it when he is ready for bed.  He LOVES it.

Anyway, today Kenwood goes to bed at 6:30p consistently and wakes up around 8:00a.  He takes either 2, 1.5hour naps or one long 3 hour nap.  I couldn't ask for a better sleeper!

So, if your about to be a new mommy or you have a little one already that hasn't established a sleep routine--I highly suggest this book.