Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Sleep on the Mind

Yesterday I went to the new mom's support group for the third time. It's helpful to be around other women who are in the same place. We usually go around, introduce ourselves and our baby, then ask a question that has been on our minds. When it comes to be my turn, I usually have to make something up or rack my brain to think of a problem we are having. Yesterday I brought up the nap/sleeping routine. Emmett has been doing good at night, swaddled in the co-sleeper. He also naps good, but usually it is either in our arms, the sling, the stroller, or his bouncy seat, never in his bed. So it turns out, we need to start putting him down to nap in his bed, at least once/day to get him used to the idea. So today, I've already put him down twice in the co-sleeper. The first time, he feel right asleep and the second, he protested a bit, but is now sleeping soundly. I am told he should nap every 1 1/2-2 hours. That kid sure does sleep a lot. Damon is fantastic in the middle of the night and I feel like our night time routine is working well. Usually, Emmett goes to sleep around 9 or 10pm, wakes around 2 or 3am, Damon changes him and brings him to me to feed in bed for about 20 or 30 minutes, then I put him back down to repeat this process again around 6:30am. As I am writing this, I am thinking that I am totally jinxing our "routine" and I'm sure the whole thing will be thrown out the window in a couple of days. The white noise machine seems to help us all get a better night's rest too. As you can see, sleep is a focus with babies (or more with tired parents), and I learned from my group that some babies wake every 1.5hours and other sleep eight hours straight (very unusual). I feel like we've had it pretty easy so far. Yesterday after group, three of us moms went to a nearby cafe for a beer! Next week we have a date that resembles life pre-baby.

Here is a sweet video of E awake and happy. Please ignore the ANNOYING noises I am making in attempt to get him to smile. Keep in mind I spend my whole day with baby...

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