Get Some Sleep!

I was checking my email this morning and came across one from Babycenter.com. Most moms know this is a website that sends you updates on your kids development and article of interest. One forum on the site caught my attention. The question posted was, "What's the craziest thing you do to get your kids to sleep?" So I read it. And let me tell you, people do some crazy things! One mom was talking about driving her kid around for 5 to 6 hours in the car! Do you know how much gas that wastes?! Another one was talking about learning how to nurse her's in the bouncy seat so that she didn't have to touch her and cause her to start screaming. That same mom described rocking her daughter for half an hour, then spending another half hour lowering her into bed, then keeping a hand on the kid for another 15 minutes while slowly withdrawing. If ther is one false move and she wakes up they have to start the process all over again. And this was when the child was 2 and the mom was 9 months pregnant with another one! Good Lord, I would never have the energy! So, I thought if anyone else who happens across my blog is having the same problems I'd post the two cents I gave to the forum. Hopefully I won't get any hate mail.

Wow! I can't believe y'all have the patience and the energy to do all that! Especially those of you who have other small kids or are pregnant. We did Babywise with all of our kids. Our 5 year old daughter started sleeping through the night when she was about 9 weeks old. By through the night I mean I'd put her down at 8, wake her back up and feed her at 11 or so and she'd sleep until about 7 or 8. By 3 months I dropped the 11 o'clock feeding and she slept 12 hours. She also took at least 3 long naps a day until she was about 6 months and then just 2 long naps (1 and a half or two hours). Oh, and she was born 4 weeks early and I breastfed her until she was 14 months. I add that because most people say that preemies for breastfed babies will always wake up every 2 hours. My son is now 2. Same thing, except when he was about 6 months to 8 months old he'd wake up once in the middle of the night and I'd feed him. He'd go right back to sleep though. He was a lot bigger than my daughter and I think he just needed more to eat. I nursed him until he was 12 months old. Now he sleeps from about 7:30 at night until 8 or so in the morning. Our baby was born October 1st. I did things a little different with her and would put her down at 8, but would not get her back up at 11. I was just too tired with 3 kids and was crashing myself at about 9! I've been just getting up with her at abut 3 or 4 in the morning. She goes right back to sleep after I feed her, though. For the last 3 nights she has been going down at 8 and waking up at 7. Knock on wood! And she's still exclusively breastfed.

Some people will try to tell you that we were just lucky, but that is not the case at all. Our kids are all pretty high maintenance and VERY energetic. We had to train our kids to sleep just like you have to train them to use the pott,y or not hit other kids, and share their toys. Some people will tell you that Babywise is terrible because you make babies cry. I can tell you the most I've ever let a little baby cry is about 15 minutes. I can't stand it. The main thing I never do is feed a baby to sleep or rock them to sleep. I put them down in their beds and they are usually happy and smiling. I don't wait until they are fussy and overtired to try to put them down. If they cry it's usually about 30 seconds. They teach themselves how to go to sleep. I'm telling you it works!

Now, that's not to say we had no pitfalls, or "sleep props" as Babywise calls them, along the way. I said our first took 3 long naps a day but I failed to mention that until she was 8 months old most of those were taken in her car seat. And she had a pacifier, or "bop", until she was 3! We learned from our mistake with our son, but not until he was 3 weeks old. We were in survival mode and kept a hair dryer running all night because he liked the noise. That changed when we got our electric bill! Hopefully we've learned our lessons in time for baby number 3.

What I love most about all our kids going to bed at 7:30 or 8 (and staying there!) is the time my husband and I get to spend together. Our routine is bath, book, prayers, and bed. About 30 minutes all together. Then we get to hang out!

I encourage anyone who is curious to check out the book "On Becoming Babywise" by Gary Ezzo. It's worth the read I promise! Or check out this site, www.babywisemom.blogspot.com. And get some sleep for goodness sake!

And how, you may ask, have I had time to type all of this this morning? My babies are still asleep :)