After Liam was born, we started getting updated bits of advice, such as "sleep when he sleeps". This too turns out to be pretty close to nonsense, as when (if) you finally get your baby down, is when you can finally use the restroom, or fix yourself a sandwich that you may not get a chance to eat for another 4 hours. Sometimes it does work out that way, but usually out of pure exhaustion, versus some sort of preconceived tandem nap time.
During the day, our guy can barely make it 2 full hours between feedings (just like his Dad!), so even getting significant naps during the day can be pretty difficult. Though, he's in such a better mood when he does nap during the day...a fine balance between naps and play and milk.
Right after we brought him home from the hospital, we of course could hardly sleep at all - Jessica and I were both on super high alert, with the slightest sound making us both jump up at the ready. Even too little sound would cause worry and we'd get up and check on him. Over time, the 3 of us have grown more comfortable at night, which has allowed us all to catch more and more of those precious z's.
At first, he'd get up 3-4 times a night. Then after 6 weeks or so, he started needing only 2-3 times a night...Recently, he's alllmost down to ONE time in the night. In fact, within the last week, he has bested his personal record in sleep time between when he first falls asleep, and his first feeding.
A great nighttime strategy Jessica and I started a couple months ago was to split up feeding/caring duties; initially, we would both get up together every single time, and after several weeks of getting only a handful of hours of sleep per night, we started getting a bit ragged. So, I started taking Liam's first wake-up, and Jessica would take the next one (or two...poor thing). At the time, he would sleep maybe 3 hours at a time, which meant that with our new approach, we could each count on 5-6 hours of (mostly) uninterrupted sleep.
I've read a good bit about baby sleep in recent months, and as we began approaching the 3 month old mark, one thing I read that I found particularly interesting was that apparently at 3 months, the typical baby begins to develop melatonin, which helps baby sleep. Additionally, as baby gets bigger and is able to hold more milk in his belly, he can sleep longer.
As mentioned earlier, Liam has been breaking sleep records. Now, I certainly don't want to jinx anything (knock on wood), but last night, on his 13 week "birthday", he slept a full 7 hours before his first feeding at 4am. His next milk was taken at 7:30 in the morning...This my friends, is a very, very good thing. There apparently tends to be a bit of regression in the coming weeks and months as he starts getting excited about the things he's able to do, and processing the new fun stuff he experiences, but for now, he's on a really nice sleep schedule, and that has made a tremendous difference for all of us.
Go buddy go!
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