Baby Book: Sleep

A couple of friends and I have talked about the fact we aren't keeping traditional baby books, and our blogs are really serving that purpose. Inspired by reading my own baby book, I'm going to keep some notes about Julia's development. This much detail may bore some blog readers, but that's OK, they can skip these entries and just wait for more pictures. They won't have to wait long! ;-)

Sleep:
Julia's sleeping got more regular around 2 months. I remember being at playgroup before Halloween, and I was so loopy from sleep deprivation that I couldn't string a coherent sentence together. Shortly after that, I started using the white noise machine I bought to drown out traffic noise while living in NYC. Robert had put it in the nursery early on, and I don't know why I didn't try it earlier. I remembered that the white noise had helped our nephew sleep, so I thought I'd give it a shot. It worked well, and that was a turning point in Julia's sleeping.

Around 2 months, Julia was waking about 2 times each night to eat. This was about the time that she gave herself a bedtime. She started getting fussy around 9 pm, and we quickly began to recognize her tired cry. So, we started a nighttime routine that around 8:30 pm: getting her pajamas on, turning on the white noise machine, and rocking her. She responded well to the routine, and we enjoyed having some of the evening for just the two of us.

Around 3 months, she started waking only once per night to eat (most of the time). We also switched her from the SwaddleMe that had served us so well to sleep sacks at 3 months. I enjoy getting more rest (obviously!), but I don't mind the one feeding per night. Jake usually follows me into the nursery and snoozes while Julia eats. She's so sleepy and goes right to the business of eating. She's all snuggled up to me, and it such a sweet, quiet time. Occasionally, she'll wake up a couple of times per night, and I'll ask her, "So why did you go back on the 'one feeding per night' deal we made?!" Apparently, she wants to keep me guessing!

A big milestone came on 1/15/08 when Julia slept through the night! She slept from 8:45 pm until 5:47 am. I celebrated this milestone, but I also have talked to enough friends to know that babes can regress in their sleeping patterns. Teething, growth spurts, and travel can have us all back to sleep deprivation, so I'm not counting on getting 8 hours of solid sleep from now on. Last night, she woke at 2:30am for a feeding, instead of her more typical 4:30 am. For now, I'm counting my lucky stars that she is a good, night-time sleeper. (Knock on wood!) Next, we're working on getting her naps a bit more predictable!