Can I just gloat for a little bit? I kind of hate when moms gloat, on facebook or otherwise, but this is my blog, expressly created for discussing things I might not otherwise discuss on facebook, so I want to gloat.
Bean is a really good night sleeper. He started sleeping "through the night" when he was 7 weeks old, which means I feed him somewhere between 10 and 11 pm, and he sleeps until after 6 am. This was very convenient, as I went back to work when he was 7 weeks old, and getting sleep makes me better at being reasonably human-like, which helps with the being-competent-at-work part. Every other week we get an odd 2 or 3 am freak out, which I can't really complain about. Most days now he sleeps until 8 am, except the two days a week I start work early, and wake him up at 6 am, so I can finish a feeding before I have to leave.
Where we battle a little more is the daytime sleeping. It took awhile to figure out what Bean is like when he's tired (whiny, basically). And it took awhile to figure out how to get him to sleep (swaddle, soother, a few minutes in the glider). When we did "figure it out" I was pretty pleased. And Bean got better naps and seemed pleased about that, too.
But of course, I couldn't just stay pleased, because I have to obsess about what all the baby-pundits have to say, in particular, the stuff about letting your baby self-soothe, etc. I'm all stressed about the when-to-stop-swaddling issue, or the dependence-on-soother issue, or the don't-spoil-them-with-rocking issue. Apparently, it is very important for 3-month-old humans to process how to fall asleep by themselves, and who am I to argue with the baby-pundits?
The thing is, I really like rocking him to sleep, because he's only really cuddly when he's tired. And I like swaddling him, because a) he looks cute as a flannel burrito, and b) it works like magic, to calm him down and keep him sleeping longer. But, in an effort to be the best mom the baby-pundits have ever seen, I have been progressively letting go of the rocking - but not the swaddling! Let's not get crazy here!
So the small napping victories are three daytime naps, since yesterday, where I have put the Bean in his blanket, with a soother, and walked away, as his big brown eyes followed me out of the room. And he slept. Without rocking. This could all change by tomorrow, but for today, I gloat. And, as with most parenting-related gloating, it has nothing to do with me, or my amazingness. It's really all about Bean being the most darling, accomodating little cutie in the history of the world. Who naps without needing me... to rock his little burrito'ed self into slumber... sigh.
It's a victory, right?
ps- I'm not really that interested in being the best mama the baby-pundits have ever seen. It's just, I can't ignore them. I try, but they are maddeningly persuasive. It all sounds right, but they all disagree with each other, so then are they all wrong? I don't understand! Bean doesn't seem to care, but he doesn't have his mama's hang ups. Thank God.
Bean is a really good night sleeper. He started sleeping "through the night" when he was 7 weeks old, which means I feed him somewhere between 10 and 11 pm, and he sleeps until after 6 am. This was very convenient, as I went back to work when he was 7 weeks old, and getting sleep makes me better at being reasonably human-like, which helps with the being-competent-at-work part. Every other week we get an odd 2 or 3 am freak out, which I can't really complain about. Most days now he sleeps until 8 am, except the two days a week I start work early, and wake him up at 6 am, so I can finish a feeding before I have to leave.
Where we battle a little more is the daytime sleeping. It took awhile to figure out what Bean is like when he's tired (whiny, basically). And it took awhile to figure out how to get him to sleep (swaddle, soother, a few minutes in the glider). When we did "figure it out" I was pretty pleased. And Bean got better naps and seemed pleased about that, too.
But of course, I couldn't just stay pleased, because I have to obsess about what all the baby-pundits have to say, in particular, the stuff about letting your baby self-soothe, etc. I'm all stressed about the when-to-stop-swaddling issue, or the dependence-on-soother issue, or the don't-spoil-them-with-rocking issue. Apparently, it is very important for 3-month-old humans to process how to fall asleep by themselves, and who am I to argue with the baby-pundits?
The thing is, I really like rocking him to sleep, because he's only really cuddly when he's tired. And I like swaddling him, because a) he looks cute as a flannel burrito, and b) it works like magic, to calm him down and keep him sleeping longer. But, in an effort to be the best mom the baby-pundits have ever seen, I have been progressively letting go of the rocking - but not the swaddling! Let's not get crazy here!
So the small napping victories are three daytime naps, since yesterday, where I have put the Bean in his blanket, with a soother, and walked away, as his big brown eyes followed me out of the room. And he slept. Without rocking. This could all change by tomorrow, but for today, I gloat. And, as with most parenting-related gloating, it has nothing to do with me, or my amazingness. It's really all about Bean being the most darling, accomodating little cutie in the history of the world. Who naps without needing me... to rock his little burrito'ed self into slumber... sigh.
It's a victory, right?
ps- I'm not really that interested in being the best mama the baby-pundits have ever seen. It's just, I can't ignore them. I try, but they are maddeningly persuasive. It all sounds right, but they all disagree with each other, so then are they all wrong? I don't understand! Bean doesn't seem to care, but he doesn't have his mama's hang ups. Thank God.
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