Little Lady is almost 11 months old and guess what?! Just in this past week has she started putting herself to sleep in her crib, and that is totally OKAY!! every single baby is different. some sleep like they fall into a coma (ahem BB1) and some wake up if you think too loudly. I have been asked many times about Little Lady's sleep schedule so I thought I would take some time today to give a bit of an idea of what I have done to establish a sleep schedule throughout her 1st year so far.
So you are fresh out of the hospital when this perfect squishy little creature and you think to your self, What do i do now?! Well what I did was SNUGGLE!!! As much as I possibly could. Your little angel is still getting used to the world around them. For the past 9 months your baby has been warm and safe in your womb so spending a lot of time cuddled up close to is will help baby transition to the new world. i found swaddles to be a God send. I used the cheater kind. They are kind of a sack at bottom for their feet and have two pieces that come across the baby with Velcro to wrap them up real tight and snug. When the little bug is still so new all they really are going to be doing is sleeping eating and pooping. I'm on the fence with the "never wake a sleeping baby" theory. But with my Little Lady I went with a more structured schedule. iI fed her every 2 hours and let her sleep when ever she needed it.
At two weeks (I know it sounds super early but it worked great for us) we switched her feeding schedule up enough to ensure she had her last bottle around 10pm. after that I burped her and kept her upright for a bit (she had relux pretty bad) and then when I laid her down to sleep we let her sleep as long as she wanted. which was usually until about 5. This was not out of laziness because I still had to get up every 2-3 hours to pump because Little Lady didn't latch so I pumped for her. Letting her sleep for longer periods of time though during the night helped establish a good sleep schedule when she got a little bigger because she was already used to sleeping solidly during the night.
Nap Times can be tricky because like I said all babies are different. I found though that with Little Lady sleeping longer in the night she was awake more during the day. I took full advantage of that and you should too! Use those wakeful times to bond with your baby talk to her make faces at her. TUMMY TIME get them used to it early. The more active they are the better they will sleep as well. By now nap times revolved around feedings. I made sure to keep the house brought and light and happy during the day as well to help her establish a difference between day and night. Noise helps too. keep the tv or radio going. Don't be afraid to vacuum your floors or do things that makes noise. I kept up with that schedule for several months. All I varied was the time period between feedings based on how much she ate per feeding.
The next thing that is an issue for sleeping babies is where will they sleep?
That is entirely personal preference! i judge no others by where they choose for their babies to sleep!
Our little lady slept in her Rock n' Play for a first few months and I personally swear by it! It keeps bay elevated which was ideal for us because she had reflux. Its sooooo portable. I could put it in the living room during the day for naps and next to my bed at night to make it easier to check on her during the night if she woke up or did need a bottle in the middle of the night. Depending how the size of your baby though she will grow out of that magic device pretty quickly. from there I transitioned her from the Rock n' Play to pack n play stages. I wasn't quite ready for her to be in her room all by herself yet because it was across the house and who in their right mind wants to be walking all over the place at 3am. Be warned though. Babies don't always transition well and how you want them to! They can turn into little spawns of hell and make you feel like you are losing your mind and are the worst mom on the planet. THIS IS SO NOT TRUE! I found it make it much smoother when you first start the switch at nap time. That way if it doesn't work right away its not as stressful of a thing as bedtime.
My sneaky controversial tricks for why Little Lady sleeps so well
1.she sleeps on her tummy!! And guess what shes totally fine! and actually there has been a few times when shes spit up in her sleep that if she were to have been on her back i'm afraid she would have choked.
2. She took like 85% of her naps next to me on the couch. surrounded by activity and noise and light.
3. she uses a blanket to keep snuggly and warm.
4. Her always present paci!! I would not survive without that beautiful invention.
Now that Little Lady has gotten older. She will be 11 months in 10 days! Holy Cow Udders! Her schedule has changed a bit. she takes 1 nice long nap a day. and goes to bed around 8:30-9:00pm each night. That is what works for US. I think its important to base bedtime off of your personal schedules. Of course this is not set in stone. Nothing in baby land should be concrete. Flexibility is the key to life. If you follow my page or my personal Facebook page you'll see that Little Lady has a tendency to pass out where ever she falls sometimes. And that is okay! A cat nap every now and then never hurt anybody. Anyways after a nice hearty lunch its nap time for as long as she needs it to be.Then its back to crazy baby jail time until bed. She gets dinner and a bottle and then bed.
Now for my happiest of all sleep achievements we have gotten so far...falling asleep unassisted!!!
This is a stressful and difficult process. At least it was for me. Since day one Little lady has fallen asleep in my arms. every nap and every bedtime. It seems crazy bananas now but I truly loved every minute of those sweet sleepy cuddles. I actually felt like I was missing an arm or something on the nights that daddy put her to sleep because I was just so used to it. It took quite a few attempts before i finally succeeded in this milestone. I ended up going with the cry it out method. but be warned: ITS SOOOOO HARD!!! The hubby had to distract himself with music so he couldn't hear her. But I just couldn't go in there. I watched her on the monitor to make sure she was safe, but if I went in there it would have ruined any progress I was making. The first time I tried to do this I failed miserably. My friend was over and it was breaking her heart so i gave in and put her to sleep my old fashioned way. And so it stayed back to the old fashioned way for a few more weeks. Then one night I was tired and she was cranky and clearly tired and being stubborn and I said "that is it! I'm going to be tough" and I out her in her bed and off I went to the other room. It took a good 20-30 minutes before she finally laid herself down and went to sleep. She has had no issue ever since! Magical! you would think shes been doing this forever!
Now I just have to dread the day we switch to a toddler bed but that is another issue for another day!
**the key is your sanity is to go with the flow and be very flexible! Not everyday will go according to plan just let it happen**
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